Almost Lover
by Mashella Snape
Summary: Through their childhood Josie and Steve had always been at each others sides. through thick and thin they stuck together. but when he left for the Army everything changed for poor Josie in the form of a family curse. In the present day, they think they are completely alone until fate brings them back together. Take a journey with Steve and Josie they learn the new world together.
1. Chapter 1- In the Beginning

Chapter 1- In the Beginning.

Steve sat in in the living room of Avenger's Headquarters, his mind had been all over the place recently since Fury had come beck, but for some reason his mind kept wondering back to the past.

Natasha walked into the room and looked at Steve as he was lost in thought. She sat down across from him " What's on your mind?" she asked him. Steve looked up at her and gave her a light smile, " I was just thinking about people I knew in the past and wondering happened to them." he told her. Nat nodded her head " have you ever thought about looking them up?" she asked him.

Steve shook his head " I am terrible with computers you know this, I mean unless you would be willing to help me." he asked hopefully. Nat smiled and leaned back on the couch " anyone specific you had in mind?" she asked him. Steve nodded his head " there is actually." he said

FLASHBACK 1925

Young Steve was sitting in the hospital having another one of his attacks, his nurse had been super nice, he liked her more than the others in the ward. This time a little Girl had come in to see him. She had the biggest blue eyes he had ever seem but she smiled at him " Hello! My name is Josephine, I was wondering if you would like to play with me." she said as she held out a couple wooden toys she had brought with her. They played for hours, Sarah, Steve's mother found out she was the daughter of his Nurse Mary Watson. Sarah and Mary exchanged addresses so the children could keep in touch and play since Josie seemed to be able to coax Steve right out of his shell.

1940

Steve and Josie had always been a constant in each others lives, Josie made sure to take food over and check whenever Sarah had taken Ill. Now she was a 20 year old beauty if there ever was one, Her long waist length Chocolate Brown hair and Bright blue eyes never stopped shining to him. Her smile was all it took to brighten his day, Even when his mother passed he remembered he had Bucky on one side of him with his arm around his shoulder and Josie was pressed into his other side, her hand held his with her fingers interlaced with his and her head rested on his shoulder.

He remembered when he had been accepted into The Army, the first place he had gone was to Josie's house. He remembered how she wrapped him into her arms and buried her face in his chest as tears rolled down her cheeks, yet she told him how proud of him she was. She had run inside and gotten a picture of herself and given it to him as long as he promised to write her every day and mail them when he could. He remembered cupping her cheek and using his thumb to wipe away her tears as he agreed.

PRESENT DAY

" The last time I saw her was the next morning when she went to the train station with me to see me off." he said as he reached out his hand and handed over the picture to Nat. Her picture was the one thing that always kept him going, even if she had long since passed. Her big doe like eyes and smile even in picture made everything alright even to this very day. Natasha smiled at the picture as she looked down at it " She was very beautiful Steve. Is she the one you wanted to look up?" she asked him. Steve nodded his head and sighed " I would like to know what happened to her, yes. I want to know she lived a full life." he told her seriously as Nat handed the picture back to him.

Getting up the woman went and grabbed a laptop she kept, opening it she sprung the computer to life. Clearing her throat she looked up at him " alright what is her full name?" she asked him. Cap locked his eyes with hers " Josephine Grace Watson, She was Born November 4th 1920." he told her.

Nat when to work typing and clicking as Steve came over and looked at the screen, but something caught the woman's eye. An Article from a newspaper Dated September 21st 1941 so she clicked it.

WOMAN FOUND MURDERED IN ALLYWAY!

In the early morning hours of September 21st police came across the body of a young woman who has been Identified as Josephine Grace Watson age 20 of Queens. According to Police the woman had been stabbed multiple times all over her body and eventually stabbed though the heart. No witnesses were around to identify a suspect. Anyone who may have any tips please contact the Queens City police with details.

Natasha took a deep breath as she scrolled down and a picture came to the screen, It was the same girl from the picture, but her smile was gone, blood ran from her mouth. Her bright eyes stared straight ahead of her lifeless and full of terror. Nat looked at Steve who was breathing hard and shaking his head. " Steve, I am so sorry." she told him. He turned his head and looked at her " I should have been there Nat, I never should have left her there!" He said loudly. Nat shook her head " Hey, relax let's see if they ever caught the guy." she said as she clicked back out of the article and started looking around more. Steve got off the couch and started to pace around the living room with his arms folded over his chest.

" I should have wrote to her more, or never left in the first place. I should have never left, what the hell was I thinking, It was always Josie, Bucky and I. We left for the Army and left her here by herself. With nobody to defend her." he rambled to Nat. He took the picture from his pocket and looked at it when Tony walked into the room and looked at the two in front of him. " What's uh, what's going on and why does Rogers look like someone snapped his Jock Strap?" he asked curiously. Steve grunted and Nat looked up at him " We are trying to find out what happened to an old friend of his, It appears not long after he left she was murdered in an ally way. We are trying to find out if the guy was ever caught." she explained.

Tony nodded, " That is a shame. Are you finding anything Nat?" he asked her. She shook her head " Just a lot of the same article from different papers." she told him. Tony cleared his throat and looked over at Steve " You know, we could use my system, I have something a bit stronger than Google." he said with a serious face as the other looked at him.

They all gathered in Tony's office and after Steve gave her name and date of birth Tony was off like a shot. Steve paced around the office as Nat and Tony sifted through the information. " I need Air." Steve said as he started to head outside. After a while of sitting outside and staring at her picture to wash out the one he had seen he headed back inside. Stepping into Tony's office he looked at the pair, " so did they ever catch the guy?" he asked. Tony looked up at him " Yeah, they did. And there is something else we found." he said. Steve came over and stood in front of the desk "Honestly if it is another picture, I don't want to see it. I can't handle to see her like that again." he confessed.

Tony nodded in understanding, he could just imagine what he would be like if he had seen Pepper like that. " How about a phone number and an Address?' Tony asked. Steve looked at him and his brows furrowed in confusion " To a living relative?" he asked. Tony shook his head and turned the screen to Steve. On the screen was a brand new modern picture of Josie, and a phone number and address. " Better, How about the girl herself? This was in my dads old system, what the hell it is doing there is beyond me I have never heard of this woman a day in my life and I met most of the old man's friends when I took over the company." Tony said. Steve stood there staring at the screen, jaw hanging open " how is that.. how?" he asked. Tony shrugged as he wrote down the number and address for the other man and handed it to him. " Not sure there Cap, why don't you call her and find out." he told him as he got up and walked out of the office.

Later that night Steve sat in his room looking down at the paper Tony had given him, he took a deep breath as he reached over and grabbed the mobile phone that had been given to him and he dialed the number and hit call. It started to ring and Steve felt his chest go tight and a knot form in his stomach finally someone answered and the voice of an angel came through, " Hello?" she said. Steve gulped nervously and hope he was not about to make a fool out of himself " Hello, is Josephine there?" he asked.

A small giggle came from the line, " This is She." the voice said. Steve felt his chest explode in releif " Josie, It's Steve Rogers." he said. The line went silent, he could hear her moving on the other side of the line and a small sniffle " Steve Rogers? As in my Steven Grant Rogers?" she asked in a choked voice. Steve nodded " The very same." he told her. A Sob came though the phone and he could hear her slide to the floor and wished more than anything he was there to catch her when her voice caught his attention again " Where the hell have you been Rogers, I have been waiting for you!" she sobbed out angerly.


	2. Chapter 2- when it's time

Chapter 2- When It's Time.

They had talked for hours that night, laughing and joking about the past. But they had agreed to meet up that upcoming weekend, She was going to come to the compound and meet everyone and spend the weekend.

To hold them over Nat had taught him how to text message so that way when something came to mind he could talk to Josie about it. But in the meantime everyone in the compound had noticed a change in Steve, he smiled more and seemed more at ease and happy. The middle of the week Cap had been out working with Wanda, when Nick Fury himself graced the compound.

The doors opened and Fury walked into the training room, folder tucked under his arm " Steve. Wanda. How is the training going?" he asked in his usual gruff voice. Wanda smiled at him " The Old Man is doing pretty well considering" she teased Steve. Rogers laughed and waved it off as he pointed to the folder under Fury's arm " Is that the thing?" he asked him.

Fury nodded as he handed the folder over to Steve " It sure is, It seems your girl is quite the mystery." he said as he crossed his arms over his chest. Steve looked at him as he took the folder and opened it and started reading. Fury cleared his throat " She did in fact die that night. When she came in, she had no pulse according to the Doctor who looked her over. The problem was that there was a hell of a string of crime going on at the time, the Morgue was full and not enough doctors to cover everyone." he told Steve. Steve stood there and listened intently as he went through the file. Fury continued " it took them 3 days to get to her, She just laid there, When the Doctor finally got to her, the wounds on her body had healed, and as soon as he touched the scar where the killing stab had been. She sprang to life. As if nothing ever happened." he told him.

Steve looked at the him, then looked back down at the pictures in the file, " But how? I mean she was always a normal girl and according to this, she has lived a normal life this whole time." he said as he looked through copies of her work records and other documentation. Fury shrugged, " I have no idea I have never heard of anything like it, Not even in my time at Shield, You are going to have to ask her that. speaking of." he said as he reached into his pocket " I had this made for her, Stark helped me, it's a security clearance that gets her into the common places, but none of the offices. We don't know yet if she can be trusted, I am sure you can understand that." he said as he held out the badge.

Steve nodded, " Yeah, this is something else. No Marriage certificates or anything?" he asked trying to play it off as if it was nothing. Fury saw right through him and smirked " Never married, No kids, Hell she works as much as we do, Oh wait. I was wrong she has Two dogs, a **Abruzzese Mastiff **** named Jamie and an American Mastiff named Tyrion. Those about the only kids she has." Fury said chuckling. Steve looked at him and tilted his head " why are you laughing?" he asked as her drew his brows down and tilted his head curiously. Fury shook his head with a smile still on his face. " I mean I tapped the girls place just to be sure. What I want to know, is how someone like you, someone who works and other than that trains and is boring as all get out ever got involved with someone as fun and carefree as her." he said. **

**Steve tilted his head as he and Nick started towards the door, once they reached the kitchen Nick sat down a the Island and placed his hands on the counter, Steve leaned against it and looked at the man " What do you mean?" he asked. Fury smiled " What I mean is I kept eyes and ears in her house for a couple days, now mind you I have seen some shit, but this girl. She is never boring, She yells at her TV, she plays with her dogs, works and likes nature and traveling by the looks of the photos on her walls, she has a great love for England." he told the solider. " Has she always been like that Steve?" he asked. **

**Steve smiled as Nick talked and nodded his head "Well I don't know about the TV part we didn't watch that when we were young. But yes she has always been that way. But I was thinking about something, if we can get to the bottom of this, She might be able to help us with something." he said nervously as he looked at Nick. Fury tiled his head and sat back in his seat, his eyebrow raised " and what would that be?" he asked. Steve stood up and chewed his bottom lip " She may be able to help us with Barnes... I know I know! Before you say anything, you have to think about this, when we were kids it was just us 3. We all had each other, I changed with the serum, I am bigger than I was back then, and Bucky now is a threat. She has not changed, she looks the same and when I see her I will know if she is the same person, but she might be able to shake him loose from the hold Hydra has on him." he explained. **

**Fury looked uneasy as he brought his hand up to rub over his chin as he let out a big sigh he brought his hand down and leaned one arm on the counter. " James is a loose cannon, he is a trained killer and you want to lock that tiny little woman in a room with him in a hope that you are going to get your best friend back." Fury said to him. " You just gonna use her like that?" he asked in a neutral tone. Steve looked conflicted "That is not the case at all. She is going to ask about him, and what am I supposed to do just lie to her and tell her I have no idea what happened to him? I can't do that to her, she has a right to know Nick. " he rambled then finished with a sigh. " I plan on telling her about what happened to me as well, but as soon as I tell her that he is still alive, she is going to want to see him." he told Nick. **

**Fury nodded " I can respect that, I mean hell by the looks of things she has a few things to explain as well. If you feel she might be a someone you want to bring into this whole mess, Well Tony has been dying to throw a party." he teased. The two men finished up their conversation and went along their way. **

**The rest of the week was riddled for Steve, he kept texting her and they had been discussing his list of things he needed to catch up on, of course she had more things to add to the list. Then Friday arrived, she was going to be there this afternoon and if Steve knew Josie, she would not be late. Noon rolled around and a car pulled up to the gates, Nat pushed the button to open it and smiled at Steve " I am going to disappear for a but while you guys do your thing. But I will say this, She has damn good taste in cars." she said pointing to the screen before she headed off. **

**Steve looked at the monitor and say a 1965 Pontiac 2+2 pulling into the gates, he smiled as he turned it off and headed towards the door. Opening the door he walked out on to the concrete front porch and stood there with his hands slid into his pockets. The car came up and stopped before the ignition shut off. The door opened and both of them held their breath as she got out of the car and stood to her full height and closed the door.**

**Their eyes locked, and they looked each other up and down, Josie let out her breath first " You got bigger." she told him with a wavering voice but a small smile none the less. Steve smiled at her and nodded " Yeah, I told you I changed a bit." he joked. **

**He looked her over, her taller but trim fame was still the same, but instead of the dresses he was used to seeing her in, she wore a pair of Blue skinny jeans and a plain black t-shirt. Her Chocolate brown hair and big doe like eyes all the same. She cleared her throat to get his attention " Tell me something only you would know." she said to him.**

** Steve stood there and bounced his head back and forth as he tried to think of a good one. He held up a finger and smiled at her " One time when we were 10, Tim Anderson called me a shrimp in front of our entire class and got them laughing at me. I remember you gave me a side hug and whispered to me that it was alright. After the class was over you hid under the bleachers and when he went to walk by you grabbed him by the front of the shirt and beat him up. You gave him a the worst black and blue eye I had ever seen and broke his nose, but he never messed with me again." he told her with a sheepish laugh. **

**Josie listened and when he was done a wide smile broke out across her face, she ran over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders tightly as she buried her face in his now bigger chest " Oh my god it really is you!" she cried lightly. Steve wrapped her easily into his arms and held her tightly against him, his face instantly buried itself in her hair and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath " It's really me Josie." he said softly as he hugged her a bit tighter which she returned. Steve brought his hand up and placed it on the back of her head to hold her head closer to his chest as he buried her face deeper into her hair and closed his eyes, for once they both felt at peace. **

**They stayed like that for a while, just holding each other in a tight embrace, finally Steve pulled back causing Josie to pick her head up and look up at him. That was when he saw it, he once Sapphire Blue eyes had changed color, they were now an Ocean Blue/Green with what looked like a ring of Silver around the outside. He blinked and looked at her as he picked his hand up and placed it on her cheek, she in response never broke her eye contact as she nuzzled her cheek into his touch " Your eyes, they changed." he told her with a soft smile " They are still Beautiful." he told her. A blush graced her pale cheeks and she looked down slightly then back up at him " We have so much to talk about, I just need to get my stuff out of the car." she said pointing a thumb behind her. **

**Steve shook his head as he left her go and went over to the car to grab her bag from the backseat, going back over he took her hand and lead her inside " Welcome to Headquarters." he told her. She took a deep breath as she looked around the huge building, " I.. Headquarters?" she asked him as she tilted her head causing a bit of her hair to fall into her face. Steve nodded " there is a lot to fill you in on, do you want to unpack first and then talk or talk then decide if you want to run or not?" he asked her. Josie smiled " show me to my room first." she said. **

**Taking her upstairs he took her to the room right next to his, there she took the bag from him and placed it on the bed before she opened it up and took out a thick old looking book. Clutching it to her chest she looked at him and sat down on the bed, " I would rather do this in private where nobody else can hear us." she told him. Steve nodded and sat down on the bed next to her, he looked at her and they sat there in silence for a few minutes. **

**Finally Josie cleared her throat, " I'll go first." she said in a very soft and meek voice. She placed the book in her lap and looked down at it " After you and Bucky left, Mom and Dad became Ill. Dad was much weaker than mom was because he had run his body so ragged with work that it did not take long before he lost his battle. Mom was not far behind him, even though for a while things looked up, like she was going to get better. One night I went in to change her rags with cooler ones and she was cold. " she said in a quiet voice before she continued " so after that I kept my job at the hospital , I kept their house. I tried to carry on the best I could. I wrote to you and Bucky everyday but I did not know where to send them after your letters stopped." she told him as she opened the book and took out a pile of letters with his name on them and handed them to him. **

**Steve said nothing but let her continue as he took the letters from her hands. " One night while I was walking home, I felt arms wrap around my waist and drag me into the allyway, It was so dark I could not see his face but I will never forget the smell of alcohol on his breath or his raspy voice. He told me to give him all my stuff, I told him No and that he needed to go home and sleep it off. He kept trying and my answer was always the same. He hand my arms pinned to my own body, and my back was pressed against his chest and before I knew it, I felt the first sharp pain when he stabbed me the first time. I tried to get away, I tried so hard Steve but he was so damn strong, and I remember my struggling only made him more angry, then he started to stab faster, and harder in different spots in this almost frenzied manner. I remember how much it hurt, every time he stabbed it just added to the agony, and then finally I felt it in my chest. I remember I gasped and I tasted copper in my mouth, but as soon as I felt the warm liquid on my face I knew it was blood." she told him as her chin quivered a bit, she took a deep breath " I remember asking god to let someone find me, to help me and save me... but nobody came. I knew I was going to die alone in the ally that night. He dropped me to the ground and ran away, and as I lied there I remembered all of the good times we all had together. It got darker, and breathing became harder and more forced, I tried to fight it but I was so cold and tired. everything went black. " she told him. **

**Picking her head up she turned her teary eyes to him " while I was asleep I guess is the best way to word it, I heard voices, they were soft and faint but they sounded like they were chanting something. And the next thing I knew, I woke up in the morgue. Edward the doctor who woke me up was amazed that all the stab wounds were gone but he was just thankful that I was alive. Thankfully he never told anyone, He told them, I was dead. And he helped me get out of the morgue without being seen. That my cause of death had been the stab to the heart. He never told anyone the truth, not even in his final days when the Father of the Church asked him if he had an confessions before he passed. Bless his soul." she said sadly. Steve nodded " Natasha, one of my partners and I found the article that was posted when they found your body. What happened, how are you here?" he asked her softly, before he locked his eyes with hers.**

**Josie looked down at the book in her lap, she shook her head. " I started wondering the same thing myself, so I started digging through mom and dads old family items, and I found this book. It traces back to Salem in the 1600's. Apparently Mom's side of the family had a spinsters in the family who were supposedly witches though it was never proven. The story goes, that they interfered with another Coven, and in retaliation the other coven cursed the family line. The curse was that their powers would be bound until death came to call, that they would never find peace but instead rise from the grave and be cursed with everlasting life." she told him. **

**Steve looked at her, his brows furrowed and he stayed silent to let her continue, " None of the women in the family had ever died of unnatural causes, that is until I was killed, and I came back." she told him as she locked her eyes firmly with his " My eyes changed color, and I started to notice that I could do things I could never do before. I went swimming in a lake one day, you know how I love to float around on my back and just relax, I closed my eyes when I woke up, I was surrounded by like this water bubble but I could breathe just fine." she told him. **

**Steve took a moment and processed everything that she had told him, she sat there and looked at her " Alright so you got brought back by.. witchcraft?" he asked her. She nodded her head " I can understand if you think I am crazy and want me to leave, I totally understand, Hell even I thought I was crazy" she told him. Steve turned his body so he was completely facing her " I only have one question, What did I give you for your 16****th**** birthday?" he asked her. **

**Josie smiled and without a beat told him " You gave me a wooden ring that my father had helped you make. It had my name carved into it, and you were so proud of it when you gave it to me. It is something that I still have to this very day. It's at home in my safe." she told him softly. She reached out a hand and placed it on his " what happened to you Steve? How did you get to be so Macho?" she joked breaking the tension a bit. **

**Steve told her everything about his time in the military, SHIELD and Hyrda, even about the Avengers.**

** Even everything about Bucky, how he had been brainwashed and he was currently MIA. Josie had laid down and patted her stomach to let him know he could lay his head down, Steve scooted closer and laid down with his head resting on her stomach, while her hand came down she started to run her fingers through his hair. " the pair we make." she laughed lightly causing Steve to chuckle as well. They laid there in silence **

**" I would really like you to meet everyone." he told her. She smiled and then sat up quickly, her eyes looked down at his head in her lap " You said you don't know where to look for Bucky right? I want to help with him Steve, he would never hurt me and we both know it. But I think I know where you might want to start looking." she told him. **

**Steve got off the bed and held his hand out to her, taking it she got up and looked at him confused " I want the others to hear this as well, if you have an idea it is very rare you are wrong especially when it comes to us." he told her as they headed down stairs. **

**A couple hours later found everyone around the table. Tony, Wanda, Natasha, Rhodey, Sam, Vision and the others. Josie sat in her chair and offered each one a smile as Steve introduced them.**

**Josie told them everything she had told Steve and everyone seemed to easily accept this, hell they had seen weirder things she guessed. Fury broke the silence first " Alright well, I would like to see what you can do at some point, but lets get down to business here. If you think you know where Barnes is tell us so we can get to him before someone else does." he told her. Josie took a deep breath and locked her eyes with Nick's " Let me start by saying that I want to help with Bucky, I know he is a massive threat but he cannot hurt me, nor would he ever. Super Soldier or not I will still beat his ass from one side of this compound to the other and all I have to do is simply grab his ear like his mother used to." she said with a smile. Natasha pointed to Josie and looked at Steve " I like her, she is spunky." she said with a smile. **

**Josie cleared her throat " Mr. Stark if you would be so kind as to pull up a map of Romania for me please." she asked as she rose from her seat. Tony pulled up a large map and Josie looked at everyone " One thing that Bucky and I used to talk about when we were little were the places we wanted to travel. We had a list, each place was rich with history, but there was always one place that Bucky was absolute that he would go one day. And that place my new found friends was Bucharest, Romania. The capital city, completely overflowing with history and culture." she said as she pointed to the place on the map which brought it up bigger, which startled her slightly and caused Tony and Fury to laugh. She blushed and looked at them " However here is the thing, if he is running from these Hydra people and the goverment itself, you are going to have to go low profile, No big flashy shields, no blowing anything up, you will just draw attention to yourselves and risk getting him out of there safely." she told them seriously. **

**Tony sat up and looked at her rather annoyed, "so what you are in hiding for YEARS, show up and you get to just come in here and tell us how to do our jobs?" he asked her. Josie looked at him with a stern look that made the man shrink back a bit " Mr. Stark, I know a thing or two about laying low and under the radar, believe me this is the best way to go. Up until now nobody alive knew where I was, its has been that way since 1991. And personally I would like to keep it that way, the only people who need to know are in this god damn room and most likely Romania." she said in a calm yet seething voice. **

**Tony blinked and looked at the table before muttering something, Josie turned her face showing how unhappy she was but also a flick is expectation and looked at him " Excuse m? repeat that in a louder voice so the whole class can hear?" she teased him slightly. " I said Tony, my name is Tony. Mr. Stark was my fath..." and Josie cut him off " Your father, yes I am well aware who your father is Anthony Edward Stark, I had the pleasure of meeting him a few times. The first time was clearly before he married your mother Maria. The Second time I had the pleasure of meeting him was a more joyful meeting as it was the day the I helped bring you into this world and even then he was a pompous egotistical asshole. Thankfully Maria was a full blown saint and one of the kindest women I ever had the pleasure of working with or knowing." she told him in a matter of fact tone. **

**Nick Fury was not a man who showed much joy in anything, but at the moment, watching this petite woman hand Tony Stark his own ass on a platter was the best thing he had every seen in his entire life even though everyone else at the table looked terrified. He cleared his throat " That explains why she was in the system but buried so deep, if he met her back when he was young and again when he was older but she was not. He would have made note of that" Fury said nodding. **

**Tony took a deep breath and looked at her, stared at her his jaw slacked " when was the last time you saw them?" he asked. Josie's eyes turned soft "Alive?, the last time I saw your mother was 3 days before she died, we went out and had lunch, she ate a salad and" she stopped a choked up a bit before she gathered herself " Lemon Pepper Salmon. I had a salad, then grilled chicken and rice. , the last time I saw your parents, was the day I went to say goodbye to a brilliant man and a wonderful, warm and caring woman who once and a while would go out of her way to check on me even if it was always just a simple phone call." she told him softly. Then she locked her eyes with his " But I never thought in a million fucking years that I would be looking you in the eyes again young man" she finished. **

**Tony nodded his head, the respect that he had for the woman showed on his face, and he cleared his throat "So, are we going with this plan to get Barnes?" he asked them all. Josie started pacing the room. Steve nodded his head " It seems like the smartest plan to be honest, but it will take some planning. We should be able leave next week." he said. Josie cleared her throat " I will be leaving Sunday, but if you find him, you know my number, if things get hairy you call me and I will talk him down." she told them. **

**After the plans was made everyone sat there talking, while Josie slipped off to the kitchen and started to make a meal for everyone but it seemed the only one who noticed was Tony. She had found some steaks in the freezer and everything she needed for mashed potatoes and gravy and went about working on the meal going as far to make her own biscuits. She heard someone walk into the kitchen she turned and looked at the form of Tony Stark. She offered him a small smile as she turned back to her work and kept rolling out dough " I'm sorry I snapped at you back there Tony. It was very rude of me. I think it just shook me a bit when I got a good look at you and realized how much you look like Maria. " she said softly as he came to stand in front of the counter. **

**Tony looked her over, " how did you meet my father the first time?" he asked her. Josie smiled as she looked up at him and stopped rolling. Reaching up she wiped some sweat from her forehead " It was May 1941, I was still in New York at the time and I had a very rough day, I stopped into the bar for a drink, this fella slid up next to me and dropped the line by asking me what my name was and then tried using " Did it hurt when you fell from heaven, Angel?' and I want you to know that line did not work even back then." she told him with a smirk, she rolled her eyes to the ceiling "he kept trying, I will give him that but it didn't get him very far, he got a real name and a fake phone number" she chuckled as she looked at the younger Stark. **

**Tony watched as she went back to working on dinner he sat down at the island and leaned on the counter " When Rogers started looking for you, Him and Natasha started on google. They found the article , then I offered to help and looking on my system, that is where we found you and your number all that. But I guess now it makes sense that you were in there. He must have made it so he could keep tabs on you without having to dig too far" he told her. She nodded " It does, I mean it's not every day you come across someone with aging genes as fantastic as mine" she said waving her hand as if she was flattered as she told the joke. Tony laughed lightly " You're welcome here anytime. The room you are in is yours if you want it. But I wold very much like to see what you can do." he told her, **

**Josie looked up at him through her eyelashes as she had started cutting the dough " Your father said the same thing." she told him. **

**They sat there talking out details on how the team could lay low on their mission, Josie had agreed to come back after she went and picked up her dogs, she was working as a midwife and currently had no patients, so that was not an issue at all seeing as how she was sitting on a bit of a gold mine herself with all of her years of working. Finally she was done she called out that dinner was ready. Tony had helped set the table much to everyone's shock but they were even more surprised with dinner as it had been a while since they had a home cooked meal. **

**That night Steve and Josie sat in the living room " Ok so what movie do you want to start with? I mean if we are going to do Tolkien anything it has to be done in order and extended edition. So we need to start with the Hobbit." she said as she pulled up the movie. Going into the kitchen she grabbed the snacks they had gone to the store and gotten after dinner. Settling back on the couch with him she sat right next to him and pulled her knees up to her chest she settled into his side and he in turn wrapped his arm around her shoulders which caused her to rest her head on his shoulder as she nibbled her way through a cookie. Hitting play, she smiled and bounced in her seat as she started to bounce in her seat happily. Steve chuckled and watched her, when Nat came into the room and pointed to the TV " I love this movie, do you mind if I join?" she asked. Josie shook her head and smiled brightly " Of course not come join us, we have a ton of snacks and stuff too!" she said motioning to the other side of the couch next to her. **

**The Three of them has a blast, Josie was growing very fond of Nat, and even got her to come out of her nerdy shell. Poor Steve was lost as he made notes of the things they were talking about. After the first disc was over Josie said to take a small break, they got up walked around and got more drinks as they talked about the movie and Josie managed to explain the difference between Book and Movie to them. They went back over and settled back on the couch. They had all decided it was getting a bit late and had all gone and changed Pajamas, all of them settling down in Pj bottoms and shirt. When they settled back down and Josie hit play on the second disc, she moved over and layed her head on Steve's chest and wrapped her arm around his waist. To them both it was like having lived with a missing piece and in that moment, the pieces clicked back tother and they felt whole again. Josie tightened her hold around Steve to hold him closer and nuzzled into his chest happily. Nat sat there and could see the peace wash over Steve's face as he leaned down and kissed the top of her head. **

**After the movie was over Steve looked down and tilted his head to get a look at her to see she was sleeping. He didn't have the heart to wake her so when Natasha got up to go to bed he let out sharp whistle to catch her attention. Nat turned and looked at him and raised a silent eyebrow at him when he pointed at the blanket on the other couch in the room. Nat bent down and noticed Josie was fast asleep and smiled at the sight before her, going over she grabbed the blanket and draped it over the two. She watched from around the corner as Steve settled down into the couch and rested his head on top of hers , his eyes easily drifting closed for the first time in a long time. Nat took out her phone and slid around the corner silently as she snapped a sweet picture of the two as they slept. **


	3. Chapter 3- Manic Monday

Chapter 3- Manic Monday

The weekend flew by in a breeze, Tony of course threw a party the following night, however her morning started by waking up with Steve on the couch to the sound of Tony screaming "HAND CHECK!" in her ear. Josie screamed and out of instinct threw out her fist which collided with Tony's crotch. The man grunted and Josie picked up her head and turned to look at him as he collapsed to his knees clutching his sore man hood, Josie glared at him " You are the worlds biggest shit head boy!" she snapped at him sleepily. Steve winced a bit but could not help but start chuckling as Tony looked at him for help and Steve just shook his head.

" I used to tell him the same thing all the time" came a voice from the doorway. Josie sat up and blinked as she looked at the tall blonde woman who was holding a cup of coffee, she stepped forward and held it out to Josie " Hi, sorry. I'm Pepper." she said to Josie who offered her a sweet smile as she took the cup from the woman's hand. " Hello Pepper, I'm Josie, and you are officially my new favorite person" she said as she took a sip of the coffee. Tony finally got back to his feet " Pepper here is helping me throw together the party for tonight." he said as he regained his posture. Josie took another sip of her coffee and it was almost like you could see the gears slowly turning " Wait. Party?" she asked slowly as she looked over at him. Tony nodded and backed up so he was out of arm shot.

Josie sat there and glared at him "I have no dress, or my make up with me. Why you do this to me Tony/" she asked him. Pepper chuckled " if you like we could go to town and maybe pick something up?" she asked Josie. The Brunette nodded her head as she took another sip and nodded her head " Yeah, we can do that. Plus I need a guest list and I'll make the food." she said quietly as Steve sat up and rubbed a hand over her back. Tony backed up even more " I already hired a catering company" he said quietly. Josie moved her eyes over to look at him " that is going to hurt my soul." she said in a deadpanned voice.

Monday came about, The Team gathered around the jet to get ready to leave for Romania. The plan was for Tony to accompany her to her house to gather her things and come back here, while Rhodey held down the fort for a few hours. Josie walked up to Steve and smiled at him, reaching out her hands she took his in hers and locked her eyes with his "Please be safe, I just got you back I can't lose you again. And bring our boy back safe." she told him. Steve nodded his head and stepped forward wrapping her up into his arms as she returned the hug. Stepping back they boarded and took off.

Turning around Josie smiled at Tony and held up her car keys, " Shall we?" she asked him. Hopping into her car they drive the 45 minutes to her house. Tony looked at the outside of the house before following her inside. " so what all exactly is going back with us?" her asked her. Josie looked at him " My safe, My dogs and Clothes. " she told him matter of factly. He could tell she had done this a few times as she started moving around and gathering up clothes and putting them in a trunk. She let out a loud whistle and two dogs came rushing for her, Mastiffs, could not have been anymore than a year old. She laughed and gave them scratches and pets as she cooed at them " You guys wanna go on a Pupcation? A puppy vacation? Yes you do!" she cooed at them. Tony grunted and rolled his eyes " I didn't know they were coming, we uh, don't have." she snapped her head around and looked at him with a deathly glare " My dogs are coming." she all but hissed through her teeth.

A couple hours later they had everything packed in her car for herself and the doggos. They started driving back to the compound, Tyrion her American Mastiff climbed into the front seat with them and started sniffing at Tony. Tony froze up and looked at the dog before he started petting him. Josie smiled " That is Tyrion, I found him in a bag on the side of the road when he was a couple days old. He has been my baby ever since then." she told him. Tony furrowed his brows " Wait, Tyrion? Like the Imp from Game of Thrones?" He asked her. She let out a laugh and nodded towards the dog in the back " that is Jamie. They are brothers" she laughed lightly " I love that show, but could imagine me trying to get Steve into that? My god he would have a heart attack in the first well we will just say forced sex scene in season 1" she laughed loudly.

Tony laughed, he would never admit it but he liked talking to her, her voice was very light and airy and just all around very laid back. He shook his head " Pepper loves that show. I tried watching it but, usually got pulled away by work." he told her. She nodded understanding " I would love to watch it with her sometime, she seems like a sweetheart" she told him. Tony smiled a bit " I can tell she liked you, Especially after Fury told her about how you put me in my place." he told her.

They chatted on the way home and even managed to stop by the store so Josie would pick up groceries to last for quite a while. Once they got back to the compound they were met at the door by Rhodey. Josie smiled at him as the dogs hopped out of the car and walked up to him and started sniffing. Leaning down he started to play with the dogs before he went over and started helping Tony unload the car and take thing to the places they needed to go.

Josie had mad them all a nice dinner of Roast Beef, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy. Once that was ever and she had cleaned everything up, she called the dogs and placed them on their leashes to take them out for a walk. After a few she took them off their leashes and started to run and call the dogs as she played with them. Rhodes stood at the back door watching her through the glass " she is the polar opposite of him." he said to tony who was sat behind him working on his laptop. He nodded " Getting to know her today was something else, she is very strong and strong willed. Not to mention she is REALLY freaking smart." he confessed.

Josie called for the dogs to follow as she took them inside to settle for the night, it was starting to get dark out and she didn't want to get lost on the grounds on her first night. When she closed the sliding door she looked at Tony who was still sitting at the counter working. " I am going to go get changed into jammies. Would you and James like to watch a movie with me or something in the living room after?" she asked him quietly.  
Tony looked over his screen at her to see her Ocean Blue eyes fixed on him as she chewed her lip nervously. Then it hit him, despite her age, she had spent a lot of time isolating herself from others because of her situation. How could she so easily explain that to people? The answer, You can't and you don't.

Tony took a deep breath, " they have landed in Romania. They are on their way to the city and are going to crash is a motel then start looking tomorrow." he told her. She nodded her head silently as she started towards the staircase. He took another Deep breath " and I would like to join you, maybe you can teach me something about Game of Thrones so I can impress Pepper even more." he told her.

They started with season one, they joked and laughed as they watched and she explained things to him. She had to admit even thought he had his moments of being a shithead he was an all around ok guy. During one of the more filler episodes she looked over at him, sitting there in his night clothes with a bag of Doritos in his lap she took out her phone and snapped a quick picture. Lowering her phone she looked at him " You know, you remind me more of her than you remind me of him." she said softly. Tony looked over at her then down at his hands before back at the TV " Thanks" he said.

They finished a few more episodes before they both went to bed. This became a nightly routine for them, and slowly they started to build a friendship, not one based on work, not one based on just a mission, but an actual friendship where the two could just be themselves.

A few days later Josie got out of bed and went downstairs to fend for some breakfast, while she was sitting at the counter she ate her yogurt in silence. " Excuse me Miss Josephine." an English accent said. Josie gasped with a mouth full of yogurt and started to cough as she choked, as she fell off her stool. Laying on the floor she heard others running for the room she turned her head and spit out the Yogurt on to the floor as she coughed a bit more. Placing a hand on her racing heart she picked up her head and looked at Vision "Lad, you know how to scare the ever loving fuck out of a girl." she said to him as Tony and James ran into the room. Thumping her head back on the floor she heard tony clear his throat " Spit it out Stark, I didn't take you for a swallower." she said in a monotone voice.

James let out a bark of laughter and tried to hide it by clearing his throat. Tony spoke up " they think they might have a lead on where Barnes is staying. Rogers thinks they should know more in a few hours." he told her. By this point she had sat up and Vision held his hand out to her and she took it and slowly stood up.

She looked at Tony " is he still on the system?" she asked. Tony nodded. Josie straightened out her clothes and walked into the Tony's work area, She walked in front of the screen and smiled at Steve " So I hear we have a good start, keep an eye out for someone in an outfit like the one you told me you use when you go out. It's going to look like a a tourist trying to blending in but not overly so. While you two might not want to hear it you are more alike than you think." she told him softly. Nat who was standing behind Steve nodded her head " makes sense. I'm glad she is here to help." she said smiling to Josie.

They talked for a minutes on the course of action, the plan was simple. Steve would go in and talk to Bucky, tell him that she was alive while in Steve's ear. She would talk to him and tell him to come home and go from there.

A Few hours later, Josie was sitting in the living room when an alarm went off, furrowing her brow she looked over at Vision who had been sitting with her in the living room playing with the puppies happily, she had taguth him a few commands for the dogs and how to play with them, all she could do was smile before speaking. " Viz, what is that noise?" she asked him. He looked up and smiled at her " If I had to venture a guess I would say it is Captain Rogers." he told her.

She smiled at him sweetly as she got up and walked over to the work area. Carefully she leaned against the door and looked at Tony who was talking to someone as he paced the room. She heard him through the glass say " Yeah, I'll go get her... Oh nevermind. Here she is." he said as he held his hand out and called her in.

Josie walked into the office as she smiled at him and took the headset in his other hand. Putting it on her head she softly cleared her throat " I'm here" she said in her normal soft tone. Someone could be heard in the background telling Steve to prove it and instantly tears sprang to Josie's eyes, " Steve, sweetie let me talk to him." she said.

Her and tony could both hear the ear piece being moved and handed to someone else, then they heard heavy breathing, a gravely voice came over the headset "Jose?" the voice asked. Josie's hand come up to her mouth as she bit back a soft sob, and after taking a deep breath she answered with in almost a whisper " Bucky Boy.".

She could hear his gasp " I thought you were dead Josie, I am so sorry, I never meant for any of this to happen..." he rambled. She shook her head as Tony watched her and handed her a tissue for the silent tears that were rolling down her face.

Taking it she smiled as she wiped her face "Bucky, Sweetheart. Please come home, I know you are scared but we can protect you. Just please come home, I have so much to tell you." she said softly. Bucky went silent, and she worried " Buck?" she asked in a meek voice. Bucky grunted " Tell me something only you would know." he said to her.

Josie sighed and looked at the ceiling " One time, when I was 16, you called my house in the middle of the night" she started as Tony slid her over a chair and she moved it to sit down as she continued " and you told me You and your brother were sick. I remember I put a robe on over my night dress and grabbed my mothers medical bag and I ran to your house." she reminisced

" I remember your mother answering the door in the most helpless state I had ever seen her in. I remember I went to your brother first, his fever was high and he was shivering. That poor babe had the Flu so bad, but it was easily managed as we had caught it in the early stages." she said as she took a deep breath " But then I remember I went to your room, you looked so small under the quilt your grandmother had given you. And I went over and you looked at me while I laid a cold rag on your forehead and when I went to check on your brother you asked me to stay with you." she sighed "I slept in the chair that night, at the bedside. Your brothers fever broke in the early morning hours, while yours still raged a bit. And I remember you looked me in the eyes and asked me to never tell Steve that you were weak. And I never did Bucky, I never did." she finished with her voice cracking a bit.

The line was silent. Tony looked at the connection and then back at her when they heard his voice on the other line. " We are coming home Jose" he told her. Josie pulled her knees up to her chest and let out a sob of relief as she wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her face in her knees. She felt someone come up behind her and place their hands on her shoulders, reaching a hand up she placed her hand over theirs and she looked up to see James smiling down at her softly as he reached out and took the headset off her head. " You did good kid." he told her. She gave him a watery smile as she nodded her head as he kept rubbing her shoulders in comfort while Tony finished talking to the team.

Walking out into the living room she took a deep breath and rubbed her hands over her face as James came to a stop behind her " You alright, kid?" he asked her. Josie let out a small laugh as she turned around and looked at him " You know, it still makes me laugh when someone calls me kid at my age." she told him. James laughed " sorry, I mean you look..." he trailed off as he motioned to her. She nodded her head "20? It's totally fair I don't blame you." she said with a sigh as she walked over to the couch and sat down.

James looked her over " so what is eating at you? I thought you would be bouncing around her more than you usually do." he asked and went and sat in one of the chairs. Josie looked at him and smiled lightly at him " When Steve found me, we texted back and forth for a week after he first called me. I was more than ready to see him. Where as with Bucky, it was out of no where, I had not prep time because it was a hair brained guess... does that make sense?" she asked him. James nodded his head " How did you lay low for so long?" he asked her, and when she looked at him she could see it was not meant to be rude.

She nodded her head " I worked in the medical field for many many many years and built up a lot of money. Eventually I could not hide it anymore, I mean this is not Twilight but there was a guy who for many decades would chance my important documents for me for the right price. Usually every 20 years. But after about 60 years, I wanted to go home. His son had since then taken over the business so I had him change my stuff one more time. I mean other than work I would be at home, I did not go out I found things at home to keep me going, I would go to the movies but I kept away from people and isolated myself." she explained. " that is why sometimes I get awkward when it comes to talking to others." she said as she chewed her lip.

James nodded " that makes a lot of sense. But don't be afraid to talk to me. I don't bite." he told her. She smiled at him and nodded her head. Tony came out of his office, and he did not look happy, Josie looked at him silently telling him to carry on. Tony took a deep breath " There was a bombing in Vienna 2 days ago before they found Barnes. The King of Wakanda was killed along with a bunch of other people. Security footage shows Barnes walking away from the area." he said. Josie shot out of her seat and looked at James then back at Tony " And?" she said. Tony sighed, what took me so long was on their way back to the jet they were taken into custody. All of them"

Josie took a deep breath and went over and grabbed her hoodie, " when do we leave?" she asked. Tony blinked and looked at her You're not going." he told her. James stepped back because he knew all hell was about to break loose, sweet as she is that girl was a spitfire and had a temper to go with it. Josie straightened her back " Tony, if you think for a single god damn second I am going to sit in this compound and do NOTHING, You are sorely mistaken! Now I have my hoodie, we are going to go where in the hell ever we need to go and get this all straightened out." she told him in a stern voice " because if you two don't move in the next minute I am leading you out of this place BY YOUR EARS! NOW MARCH!" she said as she raised her voice at the end.

Tony and James both started to move and move quick they did, Vision agreed to take care of the dogs while they were gone and before she knew it they were in a helicopter on the way to where they needed to go. Taking out her cell phone she spun it around in her hand when she noticed she had a missed text message. Furrowing her brow she opened it and noticed it was from Natasha, it was the picture she had snapped of her and Steve sleeping on the couch and all she could do was smile at it.

A couple hours later they landed on top of some huge building and Tony helped Josie out of the aircraft, she offered him a smile as they headed over towards a door, there was a man standing there waiting for them. " Hello, My name is Evertt Ross, if you follow me, I will take you to where they are all being held." he said. Josie stopped and looked at James with a worried look, he gave her a small smile and wrapped his arm around her as he guided her into the building.

Once they got inside they noticed everyone was in different rooms but what bothered her the worst was the screen they had with a rather rough looking Bucky on it in some kind of holding cell. She looked over and saw Steve and Sam, she walked over and opened the door. Walking over to Steve she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him close as she felt his arms wrap around her shoulders and hugged her tight. " There is no way he did this, is there?" she asked him. Steve shook his head " I don't know, part of me is saying no." he told her. Josie sighed " I want to see him." she said as she took a step back from him. Steve opened his mouth when the door opened and Ross and Tony came in,

They said Bucky was about to be interviewed, they all went out to watch the interview and Josie stood in the front with her arms crossed in front of her with her eyes fixed on the shrink started to ask him questions. " Do you mind if I sit Mr. Barnes?" he asked. Behind her Josie heard Steve talking behind her about how it would be possible to frame Bucky. She kept her eyes on the screen, her eyebrows furrowed, something about his tone and the way he kept looking at the screen she shook her head. " No you guys this is wrong, something is off with this guy." she said looking at Ross.

Ross looked at her and tilted his head when the power went out, Josie went over to the door Bucky was through, Sam went in front and Steve behind him. She saw Sam walk through the door and go flying through the air. Everything went quick, everyone was trying to get through to him to get to him or pin him down, but to Josie it was like watching a red hot knife through butter. Steve went after Bucky and Sam came to find Josie and tucked her under his arm as he lead her out of the building.

She didn't remember where they had gone, but they walked into a room to find Steve standing against the wall and Bucky knocked out. She went over and knelt in front Bucky and looked him over. He had a bit of blood coming from the head and she used her hand to wipe it away and brush some of his hair out of his face " Oh my boy what did you get yourself into?" she asked quietly. She moved down to sit against a wall as she watched Steve and Sam talk back and forth. "This is going to be war within it's own right." she told them as she rolled her head against the wall.

Bucky came too and the first thing he looked at was the person against the wall. He tilted his head " I didn't hurt her did I?" he asked. Steve shook his head " No, if you had your head would not be on your shoulders anymore." he told him. Josie came too, and Steve walked over and held his hand out to her, smiling she slid her smaller hand into his and stood up, she turned and looked at Bucky. " Long time no see Barney Boy" she said with a gentle smile.

Bucky looked at her, fixed on her face " You look, amazing Jose seriously you look the same as you did when we left." he told her. Going over she squatted down in front of him and she reached out a hand and touched his cheek " I missed you too." she said.

After some talking the guys put a plan into action and they were on the move. Jose sat in the backseat with Bucky, her knees drawn up to her chest as she listened " this is wrong, you all are a team and there is a way to undo the brain washing. That is what I have been telling you this whole time. Hell Tony is more than willing to let me work with him. But I cannot sit back and watch you all fight this out. We know what needs to be done, and I can make it happen if you can get me somewhere windy." she said to them. Bucky looked over at her, someone who had always been his little sister but just as powerful as him and Steve put together even knew. But her compassion would be her downfall.

The came to a parking garage and pulled up next to a Van, out of it came Wanda and another guy. Carefully she climbed out of the car and she instantly went over to Wanda and wrapped the girl in her arms " Oh Wanda sweetie, are you alright?" she asked as she looked the girl over carefully. Wanda smiled at her, Josie was someone that Wanda felt completely at ease with, almost like she was a younger version of a mother. Wanda nodded her head " I am fine, thank you for asking" she said in her thick Russian accent. Josie smiled as she gave the girl another hug " I was worried about you darling." she told her softly.

Carefully she turned and looked at the man who was with her " Hello." she said with a smile " You must be Clint." she said with a nod.

Clint nodded and smiled at her and held out his hand " and you are,?" he asked. She took his hand and shook it softly " I'm Josie. " she told him. They introduced another man that they called Scott.

A voice came over the intercom saying they were evacuating the Airport, Josie looked around the group " I am going to try to keep this from getting messy, but Bucky.. Steve you two better be right, I have gotten to know Tony and hopefully he is going to be able to listen to reason. But suit up just incase." she told them. She started to walk to the walk way up to the room of the garage. And once she reached the roof she looked down and saw Tony and his team lining up and assembling, on the other side she saw Steve and his crew. Josie had her ear piece in and was listening to everyone, as she stood there with her arms out and letting the strong breeze blow over her as she collected energy.

Thing started to get heated and she looked down, her eyes shown brighter than before, she could feel the strength coursing through her. Tony said Steve's view was skewed she looked down at him " Is mine Tony?" she said. As if the wind carried her message she locked her eyes with his " I came here, to find my friends and instead I find a bunch of ego's clashing. There is a simple solution to this, but you refuse to hear it because it is not your own." she told him. Tony looked away from her and looked right at Steve, Both teams lined up facing each other and each was gearing up for attack.

Josie held out her hands and fixed her vision on them as she took a deep breath and said in a stern voice " Duratus". As if some force came out of no where Tony stopped midstep frozen in place, Josie could hear him through Steve's ear piece " Why can't I move?! What the fuck is going on?!" he called out. Steve's voice was next " I have no idea I can only move my head, anyone else?" he called. Everyone confirmed they could not move as well, Josie pointed her hands down at the ground and muttered "sursum".

As if it was nothing she started to rise, her feet leaving the concrete and rising her into the air, carefully she waved her hands in front of her as if she was bringing more air towards her and she started to in what can only be described as floating she started to move towards them. Once she was floating above them she could feel their eyes on her, she raised her hands in her air she carefully called out

"Deorsum".

Carefully she started to lower to the ground, until carefully she felt her feet connect with the ground, she looked around at everyone in the lines. She came to stand between Tony and Steve, " You two, I am going to say this and I am going to say this once. There is a peaceful solution, but you both are to stubborn to hear it." she said calmly.

Everyone looked at her with jaws slacked as she continued " These are your choices, you first option, is that you can allow me to work with Bucky to undo the training that Hydra has installed with him. I do not fear him he cannot hurt me, I CANNOT DIE!" she snapped at them " Because believe me I have tried, in more ways than one." she confessed.

Steve looked at her as if he had been slapped " Or, You can stand here with your buddies and fight it out like this is West Side story and make this entire thing worse than it already is." she said to them. Looking between the two she stood there, Tony shook his head " You have no say in this, you have no idea what you are playing with." he told her. She looked at him " I am not playing with anything. Tony, I have come to respect you as a friend, and I know you feel as though you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, but you have got to learn to share that with others. Instead of giving demands, put your pride aside and ask for fucking help. Because I am looking at this team here and I see a child on it, a child tony seriously?!" she scolded him. The guy in the spider costume tilted his head and looked at her before saying in a soft tone "I think she means me... Hi, My name is Peter Parker." he told her. She fixed her eyes on Tony and pointed at Peter " You hush, You're grounded" she deadpanned. Peter looked at Tony confused " can she do that?" he asked the older man.

Tony looked at the ground, and Steve spoke up next " there are more of those soliders Tony, and we have to get to them before that shrink does." he tried to reason. Tony looked at him " You, Me and Barnes. Nobody else." he said looking at Josie. She looked between the two, " Take on this mission, when you get back we will discuss Bucky's treatment." she said to them and they nodded in agreement. Josie held her arms out on both sides and called out "Venite ad Eos" before slowly lowering her arms. She watched as Tony's leg finally finished hitting the ground and everyone stood there amazed.

Tony looked at her " is that what you can do?" he asked. She turned her head and looked at him " Go, that can be discussed later" she said in a tired sounding voice. Sirens could be heard in the distance, Josie looked at Tony, a look of betrayal crossing her face "You bastard." she said simply. Turning she looked to Steve " get him and go!" That was all that had to be said, they were off like shots. Josie held up her hands and tried to what she liked to call ' her force' to hold the rest of them back to give them time to reach the jet, but she could feel herself fading. She took a deep breath and pushed harder, but the Panther looking guy and Vision made it passed her. She heard things falling bit things and before she knew it her vision started to fade.

She heard the Jet fire up and the sirens were even closer, that is when her hands slid down to her sides. Her vision was fading in and out, and before she completely blacked out she felt an arm slide around her and someone start to lower her to the ground " Hey! Hey, I got you. You're gonna be alright." she heard Clint tell her.


	4. Chapter 4- The Time Warp

Chapter 4- Hi, I'm Awkward.

Josie Slept, and slept and slept some more.

One morning the sunlight shone through the window landed on on Josie's face, she scrunched her face up and let out a grunt. Opening her eyes she blinked a few times and realized that her lids still felt extremely heavy, but her stomach growled loudly. Carefully she pushed herself to sit up and looked around the room she was in, she looked down at the floor and smiled when she spotted Tyrion and Jamie sleeping in their puppy beds. Even slower she swung her legs over the slide of the bed and her bare feet touched the floor she let out a soft gasp and carefully stood. She started to wander around the room, it felt very homey and she smiled at the fresh lillies that were sitting on the dresser with a Get Well Soon balloon attached to them.

The door opened causing Josie to turn and look, she adjusted her eyes and came face to face with none other than Pepper. A Smile broke out over Josie's face, " I am so happy to see you." she said in a sleepy groggy voice. She moved towards the woman and embraced her in a weak hug that Pepper returned " I am pretty sure I heard your stomach growl all the way in my office. Why don't we get you something to eat?" she asked. Josie nodded and linked her arm with Peppers and they very slowly walked down to the kitchen, Pepper helped Josie get setted in one of the chairs at the island as she went about making her an Omlette. Josie watched and chewed the back of her lip " Pepper, It's not that I am not happy to see you, but how did I get here? Where is Steve or Bucky even?" she asked as she leaned back in the chair and wrapped her arm around her mid section.

Pepper smiled at her " It seems that Tony has a soft spot for you, and I do as well. Steve is off doing something, we are actually not sure where he is but Natasha and Sam are with him. Last we knew he broke everyone out of the raft and eventually they all got plea deals. Scott and Clint took house arrest so they could still be with their families. Vision and Wanda are off doing their own thing. So it is just Tony, You and I here. " she said with a smile towards Josie. Josie furrowed her brows and sat up and leaned against the counter " So Steve just left me here? He just dropped me off and left?" she asked in a soft yet hurt voice. Pepper looked up at her, her face softened as she realized how this looked to Josie, and honestly she would have looked at it the same way.

Turning off the stove she went over and wrapped her arm around Josie and hugged her to her chest as she one hand come up and placed itself along Josie's hair and she stroked her hair back from her face. " He asked us to keep you safe, trust me, he did not want to leave you. The flowers on the dresser are actually from him, he told me to tell you there is a letter next to them for you. This was not easy for him Josie, but I cannot blame you for feeling that way." she told her softly as she gently brought back Josie's face and smiled at her. Josie nodded as she took a deep breath, " alright. I.. I'm still so tired. But I don't want to be alone. Is it alright if I eat, and hop a show.. Oh god I don't have any clothes here." she sighed as she looked down at the counter. Pepper smiled " You have lots of clothes here. Tony sent me out shopping for you, Don't worry I did not go facy he told me if it was not something a jeans and tshirt nerd would not wear then don't buy it." she laughed lightly.

Josie laughed " sounds about right." she confirmed " I was wondering if I take a shower if you would help me brush and braid my hair, and maybe we could watch Game of Thrones or something?" she asked in a small voice. Pepper looked at the girl sitting next to her, when she had met Josie she was drawn to the fact the girl had a huge presence about her, very lively and bright, Fun yet laid back. But the woman in front of her now seemed so small, and probably felt so abandoned that it broke her heart a bit. Pepper turned the stove back on, " we can do that for sure, I will make sure all my phone are turned off and we will have a girls day. Tony told me that you got him into Thrones, thank you for that by the way."she laughed lightly. Josie smiled at her " I would really like that Pep. And yeah I did, he is becoming a regular old pro at it, the problem is he has charts of possible outcomes of the show, the shithead." she rolled her eyes as she smiled weakly.

Josie at half of the omlette and excused herself to go upstairs for a shower. When she went up to her room she walked over to the dresser and picked up the Envelope with her name on it, going over to her bed carefully she opened it and took the letter out.

My Josie,

I hate having to do this but it is for the best. The fact that I have to leave your side after so little time together actually feels like someone is pulling my heart from my chest. I don't know where I am going or when I will be back. Pepper has a phone for you, it is a secure line that goes directly to me, Text or call, if you cannot sleep you know how to talk to me, the hardest part about all of this is not being able to hold you in my arms, to stroke your beautiful hair or even seen your face.

I hope to be back sooner rather than later.

All of my love always and forever,

Steve

Josie swallowed and looked down at the letter with tears in her eyes., taking a deep breath she slid the letter back in the envelope she walked over and placed it in the letter in her top drawer. Searching through she found a pair of shorts and a tank top, she clutched them to her chest and went in search of the bathroom. Office, Office, workout room? She sighed and headed to where she heard noise, water in fact. She knocked at the door, when she heard come in, she slowly opened the door and saw Pepper sitting on the edge of the tub drawing a bath for her, she looked at her and the look of confusion must have shown " I drew you a bath, it has some lavender oil in there with will help you relax all together. I'm not sure what you did to wear yourself out but we will get you back on your feet." she said as she took the clothes from Josie and set them on the counter.

Josie took a deep breath and smiled at her, it was sweet of her. She locked her eyes with with Pepper's " I used my power without well I guess the best way to word it would be without properly charging up. Usually I have to go out and connect with nature, before I do something like I did, but not just that I have never stopped that many people all at once, and then tried to hold them all back. It zapped me and now I guess I have to recharge." she explained. Pepper tilted her head as she looked at her and nodded her head " that makes sense, how often do you need to be out in nature?" she asked curiously. Josie took a breath " usually I go out for a few hours ever day with the dogs and wear them out." she said with a sheepish grin.

Pepper left Josie to her bath, she scrubbed everything her hair and her body felt raw but clean by the time she was done, but even thought she felt completely exhausted she felt good. After drying off she sat on the toilet so that she did not lose her balance while she was getting dressed. Once she was done with that she grabbed a brush and a hair tie and started to head downstairs when she heard Pepper talking to someone, " No, I am telling you that poor girl feels like she has been left alone and you are not going to badger her about her powers you are going to leave her alone and let her rest Tony. Or you are going to have me to deal with, Now go have dun with James and we are going to do out thing here. I will see you later." she said as she hung up her phone and set it down.

Josie came down the rest of the stairs and cleared her throat lightly, Pepper turned around and smiled at her " alright, so we have the place to ourselves tonight , I was thinking pizza for dinner and what season of Thrones did you want to watch?" Josie smiled at her, carefully she went over and set down the brush and the hair tie, then she went over and wrapped her arms around Pepper in the tightest hug she could muster "Thank you Pepper, thank you so much. For everything. " she said as her voice trembled . Pepper wrapped her arms around her and hugged her back " Sweetie you are most welcome, you tried to bring a peacful outcome to all of this, things will work themselves out." she told her Josie looked at her " Steve's letter said you had a phone for me? I would really like to text him to let him know that I'm ok. Can I have it please?" she asked softly. Pepper nodded and went over to her desk and pressed her thumb to the lock and opened it, taking out the phone she closed the safe and took it to Josie.

While Josie sat in a chair and Pepper worked on her hair, Josie turned on the phone, opening a new message she typed out a message to Steve.

I'm awake, and you are not here. I don't like this, not one bit. - J

She hit send and placed the phone in her lap, she closed her eyes as she let Pepper work on her hair. Once she had her braid in, they moved to the living room, Josie had brought a blanket with her as she covered up she watched as pepper went around and called I the pizza and got everything all set up for them. Pepper told her she was going to grab a quick shower and then they would watch. Josie curled up in the corner of the couch, and closed her eyes. Her phone vibrated in her hand, blinking she picked the phone up and looked a the screen

You have no idea how much I wish I could curl up and wrap you in my arms, I am so glad you are ok Josie. I do regret one thing, and that is that I did not kiss you before everything went down. I know I'm always late. - S

Josie laughed lightly and shook her head as she slowly texted him back

I miss your warmth, Pepper has been so kind and so helpful. I'm still very weak and tired but it will get sorted and I will be back to normal in no time. - J

she smiled as she heard Pepper coming down the stairs, she smiled at her " he texted me back." she told her. Pepper smiled " Steve is a good guy, and he is head over heels for you. I have never seem him so content and happy then when you are two are together." Pepper told her. Someone knocked at the door, Pepper went over and grabbed the Pizza and came back into the living room. Josie smiled at her and the women sat and talked as they ate and watched their show.

**A year and a half later **

Josie had settled into life here, she had started working with Pepper on some of her projects so that the poor woman didn't have the work load on her shoulders all the time. Tony of course had asked Pepper to marry him and Josie was meant to be the maid of honor. When they were not working, Josie and Pepper would watch TV together and work on wedding plans. Josie heard from Steve when he could and she knew he was on missions but sometimes it would take him days to reply. Tony for some reason was very on the fence that she still spoke to him but she never wanted to pry and ask him why.

Tony, Pepper and Josie walked with Tyrion and Josie in the park one day, Tony was walking backwards and talking to Pepper about his vivid dream that she was expecting. Pepper looked over at at Josie with a look of humorous disbelief on her " Do you hear this? We're not even married yet." Pepper sighed. Josie laughed " I would say the boy got bit, He's got wedding feva!" she said as she wrinkled her nose in a cute manner at Tony. Pepper started talking to Tony about his suits when Josie noticed a golden ring forming in the air behind him, " Uh... guys? What the hell is that?" she asked, Tony turned around and a man came walking out of the circle causing Josie's eyes to get wide. " Tony Stark, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange I am going to to need to you to come with me." the man said. Josie tilted her head " To where? Equestria? Like seriously dude you just came out of a circle of glitter." she said. The man looked at her then back at Tony " Oh uh and congratulations on the wedding." he said.

Tony clapped back and the man looked a bit annoyed " We need your help." he said. Josie had moved up to stand next to Tony and in front of Pepper just in case they needed protection. " I am not overselling it to say that the fate of the universe is at stake." strange said.. " Who is We?" Tony asked. A Man walked out behind Tony " Tony." eh man said, he looked nervous and extremely upset. " Bruce." Tony and Pepper said at once. Josie blinked and looked him over. Looking over at Pepper Josie reached out and placed a hand on placed a hand on her shoulder " I'll go with him for protection." she told her softly. Pepper hugged her tightly and thanked her.

They ended up in some building, and Josie took a seat and watched as they all talked about Thanos and infinity stones she chewed her bottom lip and he explained to Bruce how the Avengers split up, catching the man up on everything he missed. Josie watch as Bruce looked so sad and sighed " You know, if you looked any sadder I would be hugging you boy" she told him. Bruce offered her a small smile, then looked at Tony, " So call Cap." he told him. Tony shook his head " I have no way too." Tony said sighing. Josie cleared her throat " I do." she said quietly. Tony snapped around and looked at him" what do you mean you do? Pepper said you were E-mailing." he said looking none too pleased.

Josie perked an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms over her chest and gave him the ' bitch please' look " First of all the last time I checked I am 98 years old, I will damn well do as I please. And second of all, I will not" she said standing up and walking over so she was face to face with him " talked down to by a damn Youngster like you. If you need him, and I call him. He will come, Natasha and Sam as well. You gotta remember something boy, we were in each others lives before you were a tingle in your daddy's sac, that is not about to change." she stated simply.

Tony and Josie stared each other down, until they heard a rumble in the distance. Tony asked if stephen was moving his own hair when he looked at the man and Stephen shook his head " Not at the moment." he said.

Tony headed for the door and Josie followed close behind, the people in the street with in hysterics, running and tripping over their own feet, Josie sighed as she an to catch up to Tony with the others close in toe. Tony started barking for Friday to evac and call responders when the Good Doctor threw some of his magic in a certain direction. There were two creatures standing in the street, Stephen and Tony told him they were Trespassing, and Tony asked Bruce if he wanted a piece.

Bruce looked nervous and shook his head " Um no.. " then he started to focus as if he was trying to change, his neck started to turn green and Josie looked at him. He could not do it. Tony told him it was ok, he looked at Josie " Protect him?" he asked. Josie nodded as she smiled lightly at Bruce and took a step in front of him, One of the big guys threw something at them, Josie threw out her hands " Impressio!" she called out. Wind gushed all around them the car threw back at the intruder. Bruce looked at her impressed, then shit really started to go south. Before she knew it she was being pulled through a portal, she let out a quick scream as she landed on top of Bruce nose to nose and half a taxi landed next to them she turned her head and looked back at him " Next time buy me dinner first." she winked at him. Tony came flying through the portalBruce went running over " are we doing good?" he asked, Tony nodded " yeah really good hey are you going to join in?" he asked. Bruce looked panicked " I'm trying but he won't come out." he said. Tony got up and a hammer came flying at them causing them to scatter. Be went to strike down on Tony when a young voice could be heard saying " Hey. Mister Stark." Tony she could imagine he was blinking " hey kid where did you come from." they bantered back and forth.

Stephen could be seen being carried away and Tony told the kid to follow him, the hammer guy came at them again and Wong opened up a portal and Josie used her magic to push him through, as Wong closed the portal it severed his hand and Josie wrinkled her nose and kicked the hand, she turned her head and looked at Tony and pointed where Peter had taken off " Tony, go save the bab!" she snapped at him and she turned around to handle everything else. Josie took a deep breath and watched as Wong made a portal and started to go home, Bruce was talking to him and she pulled out her phone. Bruce turned and looked at her, " First thing is first we need to get back to Headquarters, You drive. I'll call, My car is at Stark Towers." she said as she took off. She would collect Pepper and the dogs and they would head out.

After making it back to the tower, they loaded up the car and Pepper took the wheel, Josie sat in the front and Bruce in the back, absolutely loving playing with and petting the dogs. Josie took out her cell phone and hit the call button on Steve's number. It rang and rang and rang, Josie put it on speaker and set her head back against the rest. Finally someone answered the other line, " Josie, what's going on Doll I missed you." Josie smiled and picked her head up "Well, I spent the day talking to a wizard and being attacked by aliens, but I met your friend Bruce, he seems like a good Lad." she said as if it was nothing. She could hear Steve move on the other end. " I'm sorry you want to run that by me again?" he asked.

Josie looked back at Bruce and spoke into the phone " Shit has hit the fan Steve and fast, There is this guy coming for Earth according to Bruce, he already attacked Thor, wait is that a code name? You can't possibly mean Thor as in Thor Odinson, God of Thunder and Lightening." she siad looking at Bruce. He looked sheepish and nodded his head in comfirmation. Josie let out a whistle " anyway, Bruce said he already blew through Thor, and he is headed for Earth to collect the infinity stones. And an even bigger problem, Vision went AWOL about 2 weeks ago, he has Wanda with him, He has the.. what was it called Bruce Mind stone in his forehead." she said looking back at Bruce who once again nodded his head confirming.

Steve was silent before he cleared his throat" Josie are you alright?" he asked. She nodded her head " Yes, I'm fine, but Steve, I need you to find Vision and Wanda, when you do, tell them that I said it is time to come home. Because it is in fact time for all of you to come home. You, Sam and Natasha as well." she told him. Steve sighed " Thank God, I am going to hug the hell out of you when I see you. Where should we all meet up?" he asked her. Josie sat back in her seat " Pepper, Bruce and I are on our way to Headquarters with Tyrion and Jamie. Once you find Vision and Wanda, we will be ther.e" she told him.. Steve turned around and spoke to Nat and Sam " Alright, we will be there soon as possible." he told her.

Josie hung up the phone and looked back at Bruce, she offered him a small smile " we will get this all sorted, Are you hungry?" she asked him softly. Bruce looked at her and blinked a little bit " I, are you really 98?" he asked her. Josie laughed and nodded her head " Indeed I am, and I will always look like this, it's a long story." she told him. Josie brought up her phone when she heard it go off, it was from James letting her know he was on his way to Headquarters as well. She looked back at Bruce " You look like you need a distraction, so tell me what would you like for dinner?" she asked him.

Bruce had finally helped her figure out that they would have Burgers and Fries for dinner, once they got to the compound Josie handed her ID to Pepper so they could get in the gate. They drove up to the building, Josie was out of the car first followed by the dogs, she went over and threw open the door "Where the hell is my Rhodey at?!" she called as soon as she walked into the doors. James came around the corner smiling "You all are a sight for sore eyes considering who I have been on call with." he said as he came out and wrapped Josie up in a huge hug. She laughed and gave him back a tight hug " Let me guess, the Secretary of Douchery. Ya need any help with him?" she asked him.

James sighed and rubbed his hand over his face then looked at Josie " Honestly I have no idea what the hell is going on and I am running in verbal circles, trying to explain shit to this guy." he told her. Josie nodded " Steve, Nat and Sam are going after Vision and Wanda. After they find them they are coming back here. I am well away they are wanted as fuck but James there is no way we are going to be able to do this without them." she said. James nodded and went back into the communication room, Bruce went to get cleaned up and Pepper went to lay down. Josie went in and whipped up some food, then came back to the Communication room. Walking in she looked at Secretary Ross and smiled at him " well well, look at you sitting there all high mighty. Has Nobody knocked you off that self made Throne of yours yet Ross?" she asked him in a mocking tone.

Ross and Josie had a weird relationship, he enjoyed working with her because she took no shit, and she liked dealing with him because he was smart enough to know that his shit was not going to fly with her. Ross stood up and she walked up to him, he grunted " I hear your boyfriend is on the move, with one of my jets. But before I get into all of that, let me say your make up looks amazing today." he told her. She smirked because he was right, she looked down good and she kinda new it, if you asked her she looked a mess. " Cut the shit Ross, Yes he is on the move. What is it to you?" she asked him as she started to walk around the hologram with her arms crossed over her chest. Ross looked at her " the fact you have 4 of the most wanted Criminals in one air craft." he started, James spoke up " Only because you came up with that. The Accords made them Rogue." he said. Josie looked at Ross " and had it not been for you and your damn accords, Vision and Wanda would have been right here." she told him.,

Foot steps could be heard coming up the hallway and Josie turned to look, she smiled when she saw Steve and Nat walking up the hall way. She broke out into a smile, they came marching towards them and Oh my god he had a beard! . Steve came to stand in front of Ross, Ross looked at Stever and Natasha " Youve got some nerve. The World's on fire and you think all is forgiven?" he asked. Steve looked him dead in the eye I am not looking for forgiveness and I am way pasted asking permission. Earth just lost its best defender So we're here to fight and if you wanna stand in our way we will fight you too." Steve told him. Ross turned and looked at James and Josie " Arrest them." he said. Josie and James looked at each other and Josie snorted and looked at Ross " I'll get right on that peaches." she said as she hung up on him.

James walked up and shook Steve's hand, then Steve turned to Josie, she stood there with her arms at her sides. Steve took a step towards her, Josie closed the distance and jumped into his arms with her arms wrapped around her arms around his neck, she pulled her head back and started kissing all over his face causing him to laugh. He placed a hand on the back of her head and quickly and passionately pressed his lips against hers in a longing kiss. Josie gasped softly and threaded her fingers in his hair and returned the kiss with just as much passion. Once they pulled their mouths apart everyone was looking at them but they were only looking at each other, as they pressed their foreheads together, she smiled at him " Bout time you came home Solider."


	5. Chapter 5-Language, Young Lady!

Chapter 5- White Rabbit.

Disclaimer: I do not Own Anything Marvel I just like to play with em, I only own Josie and her family!

Every single one of them talked, what they knew, what was coming. Josie sat next to Pepper and held the womans hand to comfort her, Steve looked over at them " Do we know what happened to Tony" he asked. Josie shook her head " No, last I saw him he was going after the boy... spider boy what ever the fuck he's called . He was clinging to a space ship, Tony took off to try to save him and get back Dr. Stephen Strange, who actually holds the Time Stone. H was part of some order and they entrusted him with it." she explained.

Steve nodded " alright so we have no idea what we have available to us then." he said. Josie looked over at Pepper and offered her a smile, almost telling her to relax. Josie stood up and walked over to the computer " Not true, I have been busy since you all left, First of all if you intend to take the fight else where, I am going to insist that you take one of the jets from here, there is no government tracking and James can fly it easily. Also, since Bruce seems to be having trouble with Big Green. There is a suit he can use for combat, Tony just spruced it up so not only does it move faster but it also hits harder and has a new more bells and whistles. " she explained as she looked at all of them. Steve looked impressed and nodded his head " and you?" he asked.

Josie chewed the inside of her lip, " while my powers have gotten stronger I am not about to leave Pepper here by herself with no defense, If something happened to her not only would I be devastated, but if Tony actually survived, well he might actually find a way to kill me." she said in a bad joke. Josie looked at Steve " I know where you took him, and I have already called T'Challa, he said that his defenses in Wakanda are stonger than they are here, a full bore war here would be the end of us, that is why Ross is acting like his manpon is on fire, because he has higher ups that are lighting the fuse." she explained sighing. Steve looked at her " You really have been busy." he told her with a smile, it was something that he absolutely loved about her. She never let anything get to her she adapted to her surroundings and started working hands on, even when they were young she was that way.

Josie looked at him and tiled her head as he looked her over, she turned and looked at James " are going to need that suit for Bruce and I don't climb in those damn things anymore, not after I got stuck in the last one because Tony changed the ID code on it while I was in it. God that pissed me off." she huffed. James laughed and nodded as he went off to get the suit ready for transport. Josie looked around and tried to see if there was anything else she could think of " Ah, yes there is something else. Shuri and I have been working on something as well. Of course Tony knows nothing of it because well he's tony. She pulled out an ear piece, " This baby can go anywhere in the world or else where. It will still report back to me and it will also allow video transmission if permitted. If you need eyes around you I am your girl, I might not be going into the battle field but I can still do something." she told them. She went over and opened a code to a vault which sprang to life and opened, she took out a tray and walked around handing each one of them one of the pieces. " Shuri will of course make sure the others are passed out to whom needs them over there." she said taking a deep breath, she locked eyes with Steve " Yes that includes Bucky. Activate the video before the battle begins" she told them.

Setting down the tray she leaned against the counter, James came back in and told them the Jet was ready. Everyone said their goodbyes and were off, Steve on the other hand stood back and waited. Josie looked at him and gave him a weak smile " I know what you are thinking about doing and if you make this some dramatic parting I will slap that beard off your face." she told him. Steve laughed lightly as Josie walked up to him and kissed him softly " just come back safe, bring them back safe. Understood?" she asked him. Steve returned the kiss and nodded his head " I will be coming home to you, I love you Josie Watson." he told her quietly. She could have sworn that her heart burst in her chest with happiness as a wide smile came across her face " I love you too Steven Rogers." she told him softly before she put in her ear piece and shood him towards the ship.

Once they took off Josie went about getting the system set up for not only video but making sure the audio was clear and they they could all hear not only each other but everyone in Wakanda. Josie, Shuri and Bruce all talked back and forth about Visions make up and the best way to go about removing the stone.

That night Josie lay in bed with Pepper next to her, while Pepp had amazing strength this time it what was killing the poor woman was not knowing, she kept waking up with night terrors and when she did Josie would soothe her by sitting there and stroking her hair and assuring her that everything would be fine. Josie slept so light that night, she wanted to make sure that she recharged but didn't sleep to the point she could not hear.

Eventually she heard Bruce in her ear ask someone " I mean he is a King do I bow?" to which she heard James replay with " Of course I mean he is a king.". Josie shook her head as she got up and started to make some Mickey mouse shaped pancakes to cheer Pepper up. Once the coffee was done she tucked into that, and started to make some turkey Bacon.

T'Challa came up in her ear " Well well well, if it is not grandma Josie." he teased her lightly. Josie laughed and took a sip of her coffee " Listen here boy, king or not ill put you across my knee and wear your ass out you keep that up. Tell me what do we have for defenses, and for fuck sake someone turn their camera on I am tired of staring at a blank screen." she told them. James laughed as they all turned their cameras on at the same time, James walked up in front of Steve so she could see him, she had perfect vision she could see as if she was seeing out of his eyes, James smiled " someone has not fully caffeinated yet." he said. Josie laughed " I mean you're right, I'm still at the approach with caution line on my coffee mug." she told him. Everyone was looking at something different, then she saw him, she set her mug down and smiled as she chirped out " Oh my god! That is the best looking 100 year old man I have ever seen in my life!" she teased Bucky. Steve furrowed his brows " Hey!" he said as if he was offended, Josie snorted " Oh stop it you are only 98, calm your tits." she told him causing them all to laugh.

Everyone got battle ready, Bruce was adapting to his suit well, she watched as the others took the battle field. She took a deep breath as she watched Steve and Natasha go up to Negotiate with the enemy army. No go, she shook her head, Steve walked back and stood next to Bucky. Josie took a deep breath and spoke into her piece as she watched, "I want you all to rememeber, I'm here with you. I will do my best to have your 6. You're all my babies and I love you, No matter what happens. Please remember that." she told them in a soft voice. And Like that the battle began.

Josie's eyes flew all over the place and eventually Pepper woke up and joined her to help. Josie was standing at the screens at this point " Bruce, Steve is about to get over run send a blast this way." she commanded. She flew over to T'Challa's screen and he seemed to be in the clear for now. She kept this up and eventually Pepper laid a hand on her shoulder to calm her. Suddenly someone busted in on the middle of the field and she heard Bruce call out how they were screwed Now. Josie tilted her head " who the hell is that?" she asked Pepper. Pepp smiled " that is Thor, and apparently a Racoon who can shoot a gun... and a walking tree?" she asked raising an eyebrow. Josie looked impressed " and here I thought Ents were a Lord of the Rings thing." she deadpanned.

The battle kept on and eventually someone called out that he was here, Bruce. Josie snapped her eyes over to his screen and took a deep breath as she watched him plow through the entirety of of their army but eventually get stuck to something, shaking her head she watched as Steve came running up to Thor who was trying to kill Thanos, Steve ended up fighting off a couple people and we heard Thor scream as she snapped her eyes over to her screen her saw him snap his fingers with the Gauntlet. Josie's eyes got wide as she shook her head. Cameras started having dust fly in front of them and fall to the ground facing the sky. She snapped over to Steve's camera and watched Bucky turn to dust right before her eyes. She let out a scream and shook her head as tears started to run down her face without sobs, then her eyes snapped open.. Pepper. She bolted up right and turned around " Pepper?" she called out.. " PEPPER!" she screamed. " Jamie! Tyrion!" she called out. She didn't hear her dogs running for her, she ran upstairs to her room and looked in the dog bed, dust. She let out a sob and Steve came over the intercom " Josie?" he asked. She continued to cry as she frantically started to look through the compound "PEPPER!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She heard a door open and Pepper walked out wrapped in a towel. Josie looked at her and let out a relieved sob " Oh thank god, you're still here!" she said. She touched her ear piece " We are still here Steve." she said. Steve took a deep breath " we only have a few left here. We are going to go back to their headquarters and see what the hell is going on." he said. Josie nodded " touch base with them I am going to try to get a hold of Fury and see if he is still around.

Downstairs an alarm started blaring and Josie looked confused as she raced back down stairs and saw a the screens in Tony's office flashing red with a symbol in the middle of it. Josie ran over and picked up the phone and hit auto dial button for Fury. Voicemail. She tried it again and started Panicking " Answer the phone mother fucker!" she yelled. Nope, voicemail again. She slammed the phone down and went back to her ear piece "Guys, Fury is down and there is a big ass fucking symbol in the middle of this screen and its flashin, I've never seen it before and I don't know how to make it shut the fuck up!" she snapped at the screen.

(ENDGAME SPOILERS START HERE!)

The plan from here was simple, what was left of the crew were on their way back to headquarters. Pepper and Josie had dug through Fury's files after they finally found the password which Josie who swore to god it was buried in the 7th circle of hell finally managed to find it. The Symbol was linked to someone named Carol Danvers, her powers were impressive. A Phone started going off in the other desk, that had to be Fury's desk she had decided. Going over she tried to pull it open and of course it was locked. Pepper heard the ship coming towards the compound and went out to meet them as Josie had zoned out and was struggling with the drawer.

Pepper lead everyone inside silently, as they all heard pounding. Coming around the corner, they all stopped at the sight of Josie, tiny little Josie standing on the desk with with a sledgehammer swinging it down as hard as she could over and over again " Open! The ! MOTHERFUCKINGDRAWER! OH OH! Password! Maybe there is a password! She said as she dropped the hammer and jumped off the desk, she started looking over all the of drawer, a small tray opened "AH HA!" she cried out as she started trying words.

Steve looked at Pepper, " How long has she been like this?" he asked. Pepper frowned "Every since she saw Barnes and everyone turn to dust. Then with the dogs, she went into full Oh shit mode and I have just been staying out of here way."she told him. Steve nodded.

Josie snapped "YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" she screamed at it. Then she heard the drawer unlock and let out a small cry of victory. Ripping the drawer open she started digging through it til she found the phone. Yanking it up she hit redial on the missed calls. Breathing heavily she let it ring over and over again, til finally a woman answered "what do you want Fury I'm busy." the voice said rather unamused. Josie looked a the phone " Is this Carol Danvers?" she asked. The line went silent " It is, " Josie nodded "My name is Josephine Watson, I'm here at the Avengers compound, we have a huge problem. According to this alarm, Fury is the one who sent your signal but he is MIA, Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet and snapped his fingers and people have disappeared, from what I understand he was going to wipe out half of Earth's population. We are scattered, We have no idea Where Tony Stark is, or the ship he is on, those who we have left are on their way or here at the compound." she rambled. Finally she took a deep breath " We need your help." she said softly in a defeated tone.

Carol took a deep breath, " Alright, get everyone looked over and taken care of when they get there I will be there soon enough, Fury has a system called The End, Activate it the Password is Captain. It will start taking a Census around the world so we can see what the damage is. You seem like a smart girl Josephine you can handle this, give me a few hours ok?" Carol asked. Josie nodded as she clacked around in the system, and activated the one she was told " System is activated. I will have food waiting for you, I am going to bake. Do you like cookies? I hope you like cookies... I am going to go bake cookies. See you soon Carol Danvers." she said as she hung up the phone. She plopped down in the chair and rubbed her hands over her face and took a few deep breaths to regain her composure.

She turned and looked at the door as she walked out and smiled at the newly arrived group, " Carol Danvers is on her way, Fury paged her before he dusted. And they are going to need a new desk... and possibly a new screen...I think I accidentily put a sledge hammer through it." she confessed. Steve walked up and wrapped his arms around her " I am so glad you and Pepper are safe." she told her as he kissed her forehead. She smiled up at him and nodded as she looked at the new comers, she walked up to Thor first and held her hand out to him " Hello, I'm Josie. I'm stressed and need a joint, but it is so nice to meet you." she told him with a tired smile.

Thor frowned but her smile was infectious, he gave her a small smile " I am Thor Odinson. The pleasure is all mine Josie of Earth." he told her. She chuckled as he reached out and shook her hand lightly. Next she knelt down and smiled at Rocket who was looking at the ground, she held her hand out to him " and your name sweetie?" she asked him. Rocket looked up at her a little stunned "They call me Rocket." he said in a gravelly voice. She smiled at him and tilted her head as she opened her arms to him, Normally she would not do this but this poor creature looked like he needed the worlds biggest hug after losing everything. Rocket hesitated and looked at her before he locked his eyes with her and walked into her arms and wrapped his small arms around her. Josie wrapped him in her arms and stood up picking him up with her. Rocket struggled a tiny bit and accepted the embrace and laid his head on her shoulder and rested there.

She stood up and looked at the others " Alright, we have all been through a hell of an ordeal," she said as she looked at Pepper and James " Danvers said to recoop, get everyone showers, fed and make sure they are medically fine. While everyone is showering and all that I will make something to eat, Rocket here is going to be my help if he would like." she said looking down at the Raccoon in her arms. He nodded and hugged her a bit tighter, something around her made him relax and not want to leave her embrace. Steve watched closely, amazed at how she was so kind and caring to someone who obviously needed it, how motherly she was to those who desperately needed it.

Josie went into the kitchen and sat Rocket on the counter and smiled at him "So, not to be rude or anything my dear, are you on any special diet or can you eat anything?" she asked him. Rocket looked at her confused and tilted his head " I have always just eaten what I was given ever since they experimented on me." he told her. She nodded, " so why don't we make some burgers and chips and stuff." she asked him. Rocket gave her a small smile " You. I am glad you made it, even though I just met you. You seem.. I like you." he told her. She smiled at him " I like you too Rocky." she told him. He tilted his head " Rocky?" he asked. Josie went about gathering up the materials and pressing the burgers as she looked at him " Rocky, short for Rocket, but there was movies about a fighter who was the toughest there ever was, his name was Rocky. And you seem very tough to me." she winked at him.

While the Burgers were cooking, Josie looked around to see who was around, which was nobody she looked at Rocket and waved him outside. Reaching under the grill the tip of her tongue poked out from between her lips as she searched around and called out Ah ha, as she pulled out a really small bottle of Oil that her and Tony had made a while ago to deal with her headaches. She lifted her tongue and placed some under it. And let it absorb. She leaned back against the wall and after a few minutes she looked down at Rocket looking up at her. She held up the bottle " It's My Oil, it's meant to relax you, but not get you high." she explained to him. Rocket nodded and walked up and leaned against her leg and wrapped his arms around her knee. " Would you like to try some?" she asked him. He looked up and thought about it before nodding, she gave him a small dose and told him how to let is absorb. She could visably see him realx and she smiled as she reached down and picked him up like a baby.

As they walked back in everyone had started to gather in the dining room, Rocket giggled a bit and waved at them as he laid his head back against her chest. Josie went over and set him back down on the counter and went about serving up food. The front door opened as everyone started tucking in, Josie went out and looked as a woman walked in the front door, Josie smiled, " You must be Carol. I'm Josie. It is very very nice to meet you." she said as she held out her hand to the other woman. Carol took her hand and shook it with a smile, " Glad to meet you too, thank you for getting a hold of me." she said. Josie nodded "Come and join us, everyone is just sitting down to eat, I made burgers and chips and Salads. I made enough to feed an army. Please come eat something." she said kindly. Carol looked around and nodded her head slowly, Josie offered her arm and lead her passed the offices when Carol looked in at the destroyed desk " what happened there?" she asked pointing. Josie looked sheepish, "Me... and Sledgehammer... and a lot of screaming. But hey I got the drawer open and got a hold of you, so Win Win here right?" she joked lightly causing Carol to laugh.

After everyone had an overly full belly, they all went out to the big work station. Carol started asking Pepper question to which Pepp sighed and smiled at her " Honestly Josie would be the one to ask about this. Tony has been training her since I took over the company, it is easier for her to work behind the scenes than it is for me." she explained. Josie smiled at her " that was the idea, I mean how can you explain that you look like this but you are almost 100 years old. I would like to thank anti aging creams and all that jazz." she said bowing. Carol snorted as she looked at her. Josie went over and started pulling everything up on the system, " Last would could track Tony was in this system, after that we lost communication, however if I know how he thinks and sometimes I do, first thing he would set out to do would be to stop the ship from moving." she told her.

Rocket and Thor looked at each other and Rocket stood up in a very relaxed manner as she came to the screen " if anything, they might have met up with that crew Thor and I were with, if that is the case they were heading towards this section over here to try to cut Thanos off. If they were fighting him there then that is where he most likely is, and anyone else who survived." he told them. Carol nodded " I'll start there, is there anything I can used to track him?" she asked Pepper and James. Both of them stood still and shook their heads, Josie cleared her throat as she held up something that looked like a Pepper Spray canister " this is something I have been working on, its programmed to ping his chest thingy when you think you are near him and you press the button. I was going to give it to Pepper for their wedding so she could need his ass in check." she explained.

Pepper let out a laugh and looked at it and handed it over to Carol who took it " well if he is still alive I will bring him back." she told them. She took to the front door and took off. Josie felt someone tugging her pant leg and looked down at Rocket who took held on to her hand. She smiled at him and bent over to pick him up, She walked into the living room and turned on a movie. Rocket sat there in her lap as she pet him behind the ears softly and started to doze off. She smiled down at him as she felt herself start to melt into the couch., and that is how Steve found her when he walked into the living room after shaving. He leaned down and gave her a soft kiss to the lips as he covered her and Rocket up and headed to bed.


	6. Chapter 6- War Machine Rocks

Chapter 6- War Machine Rocks

A Few Days went by there was no word, everyone was starting to get anxious as they walked around on the daily. Josie started to bake more and what she could do was take them and her medical bag to help where needed. 20 days passed by slowly, finally one night when everyone was sitting down to dinner, the phone started to ring in Tony's office. Josie looked up and turned in her chair and looked in there, bolting from her chair she ran in and grabbed the phone "Carol?" she asked. The chuckle on the other end told her she was right " I think I know where the ship is, when I know more you will know more.. Or I'll just show up with it. Not sure we will see how it goes!" Carol told her.

Josie sighed and nodded " Alright well, you know where to bring it if you just show up and well I am sure we will hear you coming. Keep in touch Carol, otherwise I worry." she told her. Carol laughed and Josie could tell she was flying, " I'll keep that in mind little Fury." she said before she disconnected. Josie let out a small laugh as she shook her head as she headed back out to the dining room and looked at everyone " Apparently I am Little Fury, That was Carol. She thinks she might have an idea on where the ship is, she said if it is then she will either call back, or just show up. Flip a Coin kids, that girl is a wild one." she shrugged as she sat back down.

After everyone was done eating, Steve and Natasha told her they would clean up and do the dishes. Josie walked outside and sat in one of the lawn chairs a she looked up a the night sky, she heard someone walk out and sit in the chair next to hers, she turned her head and saw Rocket standing next to her and James sitting in the chair next to hers. Both were looking at her, she took a deep breath and sighed " The scans are still running to see what is what when it comes to population. As it stands right now, the amount of people checking in is starting to taper off." she told them. James nodded his head " I figured as much, we aint heard out of Ross either." He told her.

Josie nodded and looked at James before she looked back up towards the sky " Yeah, well Ross was kind of half dust before the snap." she smirked. James laughed " Oh, Oh you just wait, if we get him back I am telling him you said that." he said laughing and pointing at her. Josie smirked " He would expect no less from me.I've always called him out for being an Old Dickhead." she said with a smirk. James sat back in his chair " Yeah, but you ain't much older than he is so does that make you an old bitch?" he asked her. James and Josie had gotten used to each other, they could read each other easily and knew what each others limits were. Rocket's jaw dropped, if there was human in the entire galaxy that he actually really liked it was her. She had taken him right under her wing and loved him like he was her own, he hated it but he loved it as well.

He looked between the two until Josie let out a loud musical laugh and looked over at James " I mean, that is more than fair." she told him in agreement. Josie went silent and chewed the inside of her lip, " James, we need to prepare for the worst and the best." she told him as Rocket climbed into her lap and held her hand. James looked at her as Steve walked out of the door and stood behind Josie. James looked at her curious " Explain." he said in a serious military tone. She sighed and looked down at Rocket and smiled at him softly, then she looked at James " The best case being that he is still alive, but we are going to need Saline, and IV Equipment, things like that. " she stopped for a minute " Worst case, we need a coffin. And I don't dare speak of this to Pepper because god bless that poor girls heart, she still holds so much hope for his return. And if it comes to the worst, we need to be prepared to pick up the pieces." she told them all.

Both of them sighed and nodded their heads solemnly. They knew deep down she was right to a degree, they needed to be ready. Josie moved her hand up and hugged Rocket, who in turn let out what sounded like a purr, They sat in silence for a while.

A couple days later, everyone was working on their own things, Steve had gone to shave because Josie refused to kiss him otherwise since his beard broke her face out. And Josie was sitting in the office looking over the numbers with James. Right in the middle of what he was saying Josie felt the ground shake under her feet. She looked at James and groaned " that had better not be something not shitty." she said as she got up from her chair and walked towards the door. Everyone was heading the same way, Steve was the first one out the door, followed by James and Pepper along with everyone else. If she had not seen it for herself she wold have told everyone else they were full of shit, but there was Carol carrying a ship, but as she came closer with it, Josie was not sure if she was far enough back so she hung back as far as she could til the ship had landed.

Everyone came forward when the door opened, A Blue woman, came out with Tony on her arm, Steve Josie and Pepper took off. Steve made it there first and Tony and him started talking, Tony was more rambling than anything, Josie looked over to Carol.

Carol smiled at her " Told you I would find him Little Fury." she said. Josie smiled at her and nodded as she started looking Tony over, Pepper wrapped Tony and Josie in her arms and hugged them both tightly. Josie wiggled her way out of the embrace as she looked Tony over, he was too thin, she frowned deeply as she looked ever at James " We need Plan A in the medical bay." she told him. James nodded and turned towards the building. Josie noticed that Rocket had gone over and was watching everyone walk towards the compound, his hand was holding the hand of the Blue woman.

Josie took a deep breath as she walked over, The Blue woman snapped her head around and stared a hole through Josie, Rocket was on his feet standing in front of the Blue woman " Nebula, No. I hate humans just as much as the next person, but Josie is good people. She will take care of us, she has been pretty much single handedly holding things together down here." he told her. Nebula looked at Josie and gave her a stare and nodded. Josie smiled as she approached the two and held out a hand to each of them,

It's nice to meet you, Nebula? Am I saying that right?" she asked. Nebula nodded her head as she looked down at the hand then over at Rocket. Rocket reached out and took Josie's hand, Nebula hesitated as she reached her hand out and took Josie's other hand, her face looking like she was wondering if she was doing this right. Josie closed her hands around theirs " Good! Now why don't we get you inside and look to over, maybe get you something to eat sweetie?" she asked Nebula. The woman looked at her and Josie ,being everand sweetheart she was held their hands all the way into the compound.

When they came inside Tony was rambling, Pepper and James were trying to fight with him to get him to let them check him out. Josie walked in with Nebula and looked over at the other two struggling. Josie perked an eyebrow " Anthony! Sit your ass down and I will be right with you! Pepper Do you know how to set up and IV?" she asked. Pepper looked at her and shook her head No, Josie sighed and looked at Nebula " Do you need to charge or ?" she asked confused as she went over and started to set up an IV on Tony, who grumbled all the way though. Nebula looked at her " I do both. " she responded in a monotone voice. Josie sighed and nodded as she went over and hung up a bag of saline for Tony. She went back and forth between the two, setting them up to heal.

A couple hours later they were hovering around the screens in the main area,, Nat was filling Tony and everyone in on the results of the scan that Josie had started. Tony shook his head " and you all have been what sitting around here twiddling your thumbs?" he grumped. Everyone was standing there silent, Tony looked over into the office and pointed " what happened in there?" he asked. Pepper, Steve and James looked over at Josie who was looking a bit more pissed off with each grumble from Tony. She tightened her jaw " I did.. with a sledge hammer... trying to get help and figure out what to do next. And you," she said as she sat a plate in front of Nebula and walked to stand in front Tony " You want to sit here and bark at us for not doing anything? " she said to him. Tony sat up in his chair and started to go off. Josie shook her head and balled her fists at her side, her fists that started to glow a bit.

Tony stood up and started to wave his hands around yelling about something, she could see the others talking to him but her eyes fixed on Tony and everything was blocked out but his voice, Josie raised her hand and pointed it towards the office and sent out a blast of fire which busted out the window. Josie balled her fist and the fire disappeared, she was pissed and Tony knew in that moment he had messed up. She took a step towards him " I AM ONE PERSON TONY! ONE FUCKING PERSON!" she screamed. She took a deep breath " I had no idea what to do, so I put myself in Fury's shoes and tried to look for help. Because we didn't know if YOU WERE EVEN ALIVE! Then I started to use what you had been teaching me this whole time. I got a hold of Carol, I sent her to try to find you with Rocket and Thor's help. I have been trying like fucking hell to hold this place down and you think you are going to strut in here and start talking down to me when you and Doctor Jazzhands decided to take off to space?! I don't think so!" she snapped at him.

Tony had turned a new shade of white when he saw the fire blast from her hands and he took a step back, it didn't last long, Tony took off like a shot, Everyone stood watching in silence as they fought. " You think you can do this then here you are going to need this!" he snapped at her as he ripped the thing off his chest and placed it in her hand, Josie shook her head " No." he told him. Tony fumbled and almost fell over, he shoved everyone away as they tried to help him, eventually he hit the ground.

They got Tony set up in a bed Josie was pacing still, finally carol spoke up about how she was going after Thanos, Josie shook her head "that is suicide." she told her. Carol shook her head and the others started to get up in arms. Josie zoned out while they were discussing and eventually she came back to when she felt someone put their arm around her shoulders, She looked up at Steve who was looking back at her worried. He jerked his head to the side signaling for them to go upstairs. Josie nodded and started heading up the stairs with Steve behind her. Once they made it to her room Steve closed the door , " Are you alright?" he asked her.. Josie took a deep breath and looked at him " I guess so, I am glad he is still alive. Nebula seems.. um, sweet." she said as she looked a bit unsure on that one.

Steve came over and placed his hands on her cheeks and tilted her head so he could look into her eyes, carefully he brought his mouth down to hers and captured her lips with his , Josie brought her hands up and rested them on Steve's and brought them down to her waist. Carefully he wrapped his arm tightly around her waist and brought his other hand up and threaded his fingers in her hair, Josie let out a small moan into his mouth as she brought her hands up to his chest where she balled his shirt in her hands. Before she knew it she felt him pick her up and place her on the bed with him hovering over top of her he used his hand to hold himself up. Carefully he pulled his head back and looked at her. Josie looked up at him and smiled before she reached a hand up and threaded it in his hair and pulled his mouth back to hers. Carefully she felt his hand slide up and cup her breast through her shirt which in turn caused her to arch her back and moan into his mouth again.

A couple hours and a heavy make out session later found the two laying in bed in ther night clothes. Josie in her night shorts and a tank top, Steve in shorts. They laid there there holding hands, their fingers intertwined and standing up so the two looked at them. Steve took a deep breath " this is how it was supposed to be." he told her. Josie blinked and looked over at him curiously " what do you mean?" she asked him softly. Steve ran his thumb over hers and smiled at her " You and I, we were always meant to be like this, together. I remember mom used to tell me all the time ' You need a good woman like that Josephine, she will make a wonderful wife and mother.' but I was determined to make something more of myself. But even then, I wanted to make you mine. I just never knew how." he told her. Josie smiled as a blush crept over her cheeks, she knew just how much Steve's mother wanted them together, there had been a few times when Josie would go over for dinner and during dinner his mom would disappear and leave them alone. Josie looked at their hands then looked back at Steve and smiled " It's hard to get something that was always yours without it actually being said. I've always been your girl." she told him softly before she rolled over and kissed him softly.

Steve wrapped her up in her his arms and pulled her body next to his, Josie smiled as she layed her head on his chest, completely content with listening to his heartbeat " I know this mission is going to be dangerous, But you need to come back to be Steve. Now that I have you, I can't picture trying to face this life without you again." she told him softly. Carefully she picked her head up and placed a kiss on his bare chest over his heart, Steve ran his hand up her back and started to run his fingers through her hair, she smiled as she closed her eyes and she heard him speak " I am going to do everything I can to come back to the woman I love. If this goes according to plan, when I get back we start the rest of our lives." he told her. Josie nodded, half asleep " I love you too Steve Rogers, I always have." she told him.

The next morning, everyone had gotten up and decided they would not leave til the afternoon of evening, Rocket on the other hand had other plans, he was worried about his human. He noticed she had been barely sleeping and eating even less, he told everyone in the house they were to remain silent until she got up, under the pain of death. Pepper went about making everyone breakfast and making sure to save a plate for Josie in the microwave. In the mean time everyone took the time to go over the plan, ge things in order and make sure they were all on the same page. Rocket looked over at Steve when everyone was done talking and rung his hands together " Is she alright?" He asked. Steve looked down at Rocket and tilted his head " You really care about her huh?" Steve asked. Rocket nodded his head " I like her a lot, she is really good people. And if you hurt her, I'll steal you're fucking shield." he told him with a fixed glare.

About 11 O'Clock Josie finally came down the stairs in a pair of sweats and a tank top but wrapped in a TARDIS blanket Pepper had gotten her for Christmas a couple years ago, and if you asked anyone there, the bags under her eyes and the worn out look on her face and sluggish movement, they would say she looked like death. Steve and Rocket looked at Pepper as the woman heated up her food and handed it to Rocket " She had not had much of a chance to sit outside, go visit any water or connect with nature. We have all been busy and when she gets like this, it is almost like she is sick, Go in there and cuddle her up, but make sure she eats something." Pepper instructed them. " I will take her out while you all are gone." she told them as she went off to find Tony.

Rocket and Steve went into the living room and found Josie wrapped in her blanket laying on the couch with Lord of the Rings playing. Steve went over first and picked her head up just enough to sit down so her head was resting in his lap, Rocket on the other hand, used the opening at the bottom of the blanket, he climbed up into the blanket, popping his head out under her chin he felt her arms wrap around him and cuddle his back to her chest. Steve looked down " Pepper made you some breakfast, and she said when we leave that she is going to take you out so you can recharge." he told her. Josie nodded silently, and stayed that way for a few minutes " You both, you have to come back." she told them in just barely a whisper.

Thor came into the living room " has anyone seem Rabbit? The Blue woman wishes him to go over the ship with her." he said as he looked down at Steve and Josie. He spotted Rocket who was climbing out of the blanket and left with Thor. Steve stayed there and kept running his fingers through her hair " we are all going to come home. " he told her.

Finally Josie had managed to sit up and everyone was getting ready to leave, Steve escorted Josie over to stand with Pepper and leaned down placing a kiss on her lips. Josie offered him a weak smile as she reached up and placed a hand on his cheek. Pepper wrapped an arm around Josie and smiled " Don't worry I will take care of here. There is a Lake on the grounds and we are going to take a walk there." she told him. Steve nodded and before they knew it they had all disappeared on the ship.

Once it took off Pepper looked at Josie " what element do you need the most?" she asked her as they headed towards the door, Josie signed " Earth and Water." she said softly. Pepper walked her outside and Josie took a seat on the dirt , carefully she dug her fingers in the dirt as pepper went off and started tending to the garden she had made. Josie closed her eyes and slowly she felt the warmth wash over her as the life of the earth started to absorb into her, very slowly she could feel the energy returning to her. Taking a deep breath she sat that way for a couple hours, slowly the smile started to return to her. Once she was done after a while she got up and walked over to Pepper. Pepper looked up at her and smiled " the silver ring is starting to come back into your eyes. Shall we go to the lake?" she asked. Josie nodded and the two women headed off.

Once at the Lake Josie had a wipe smile on her face, Pepper pointed towards the Pier and Josie shook her head " No, it's not close enough." she told her. Josie shed her blanket, and carefully started removing her clothing leaving herself in only her bra and panties. Without thinking she walked to the shore of the pond and started to wade out into the middle of the lake, she took a deep breath and went under and that is where she stayed. Pepper was standing on the pier and started to panic after a few minutes as she watched the center of the lake where Josie had gone under. The water started to ripple and a bubble broke the surface of the lake, Pepper stepped back as she watched a large bubble come up and rest on top of the water, in the center of it Josie was floating, her body was giving off a small almost glow type look. Pepper knew what Josie's needs were when it came to her powers but she had never actually seen her do it before. Pepper sat down and watched closely in case Josie needed any help.

Time ticked on and it started to become dark, Pepper had long since wrapped in Josie's blanket and eventually she headed back into the house and slept on the couch waiting.

This went on for a few days, on the 4th day, Pepper heard the ship approaching and she went inside to meet everyone. Once they filled her in that Thanos was dead, Steve looked at Pepper at him and waved her hand telling him to follow her. A small group followed her as she took them out to the pond and let them see Josie still floating in the center of the water bubble. Steve panicked a bit and went to jump in to Pepper jumped in front of him, " No! If you break her connection before she is ready she will be pissed." she told him.

Steve watched " How long has she been like this?" he asked. Pepper chewed her lip "this is day 4." she told him. Steve nodded and sat down to watch her, A few hours later Josie's eyes shot open, the water around her slowly melted away, Josie landed in the water and slowly started to swim to shore. Emerging from the water in her Bra and Panties, she stood on the shore and looked at Steve, "It didn't work did it?" she asked him. Steve shook his head, Josie nodded. Walking over she placed a hand on Steve's cheek and willed him to stand up. Steve stood up and Josie stood on her toes and placed her lips against his " we will find a way, some day, some how." she told him.


	7. Chapter 7- Tick Tock

Chapter 7- Tick Tock

the upcoming months, everyone had gone their seperate ways. Tony and Pepper had come and bought a house out on a Lake to kick off their life finally. Josie and Steve had bought their own house as well, Not far from Tony and Pepper, which the girls had begged for it to be that way. Natasha stayed at the compound, keeping relations going with everyone who was left to try to find the others and find a solution to the Elephant still in the room.

Pepper had come to Josie a few months later, seeking a pregnancy test, Josie sat with her while they waited for the results and once it came back positive, Josie and Pepper hugged and cried tears of joy for the first time in a long time. Josie had offered her services as a midwife to her, and Pepper happily agreed.

After one of Peppers appointments, Josie came home and found Steve sitting on the porch, Josie smiled at him and sat down on the swing next to him " How was your meeting?" she asked him. Steve smiled as he wrapped his arm around her " it went well. How is Pepper doing?" he asked. Josie gave him a smile, but it did not reach her eyes. Josie had always wanted to be a mother, and she still hoped that she would be one day, but for now she took joy in going through the steps with mother's to be " she is doing really well, the baby is good a healthy kicking like a champ. We found out today that they are having a girl." she said smiling brightly for her friends.

Steve smiled at her, reaching his hand out he met his lips to her and then rested his forehead against hers " what is eating at you?" he asked her. Josie looked him in the eyes " I'm not sure, I had delivered so many babies over the years, but for some reason, this time it is has me feeling very... broody. I just always thought I would have a kid by now." she shrugged and tried to brush it off.

Steve looked at her " Honestly, I thought the same thing too, and you will make a fantastic mother." he told her. Josie smiled at him.

A Few months went by, One night around 1 am Josie's phone went off, rolling away from Steve she grabbed her phone and looked at it " what do you wa... Oh shit. Ok alright I'll be there in a few minutes!" she said as she hopped out of bed. Steve looked at her confused and she gave him a sorry smile " Pepper is in labor, Her water broke about 45 minutes ago. I have to go." she told him as she started to throw on some clothes.

The plan was simple, Steve was to go with her so he could keep Tony from getting in her way. They drove to the house and she could hear Pepper screaming from outside " I SWEAR TO GOD TONY IF YOU ASK ME IF IT HURTS ONE MORE TIME I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!". Josie took a deep breath and looked at Steve " well this is going to be fun." she told Steve.

6 hours later, Pepper was sitting in a huge tub of warm water, Josie was sitting behind her and rubbing her back " I have to check you sweetheart, I know it sucks but I have to see if it is time to push." she told her. Pepper nodded and started breathing as another contraction tore through her body, the water soothed it a bit but there was only so much it could do. Josie slid on some gloves and reached her hand in the water to check Pepper, she looked at the woman and smiled as she nodded her head " alright sweetie, it's time." she told her. As she stood up and started changing her gloves she called out "Tony'! Steve! I need assistance, It's time!". She went around getting everything ready when the guys came in, without looking at them " Tony, you are going to be Pepper's comfort, support her back, rub her back or whatever she needs. Steve you are going to be my nurse here. I am going to tell you what I need and you are going to hand them to me and this is going to go smoothly." Josie said.

Pepper was sitting in the tub breathing heavily, Tony got into position , Josie looked at the two and saw Tony press his lips to Pepper's temple, before she could blink Pepper balled her fist and punched Tony in the jaw" DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" she yelled. Josie wrinkled her nose " Oh, isn't that cute" she said as she went down and got into position " Alright Pepp, On the next contraction, I want you to take a deep breath,a dn if Tony's jaw is not broken he is going to count to 10. He hits 10 I want you to breath got it?" she asked. Everyone nodded, the next contraction, Pepper took a deep breath and started pushing as Tony counted, Josie watched like a hawk and could see the top of the babie's head " alright Pepper, I can see the head, Take a deep breath and I need to you to push really hard honey." she instructed. Pepper nodded and pushed like a champ, Josie reached in the water and helped ease the head out. Once that was all done she had Pepper push a few more times and before they knew it Tony was cutting the cord and Josie was clearing the babies nose and mouth, a small cry filled the room.

Josie wiped the baby off and weighed and measured her quickly before she swaddled her, she took the babe over to her mother with a smile " Oh you are just the most precious thing that had ever been held in my arms." she cooed. Kneeling down she placed the baby in Peppers arms " there she is mama! All 7lbs of her. Congratulations you guys, she is perfect." she told them. Pepper started crying as she looked down at the baby girl in her arms " Oh my god. She is so beautiful." she breathed as she looked over at Tony. Josie went over and tucked herself into Steve's side, she looked up at him and noticed the tears running down his cheeks, she reached up and wiped the tears before he said " That was the most amazing and beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life." he told her. Josie nodded and smiled at him as she looked back over at the new parents, Pepper was calming down a bit and she looked at Tony before she nodded to him then looked at Josie " Her name, is Morgan Josephine Stark." she told Josie.

Josie gasped a bit and looked at Pepper " are you sure?" she asked. Pepper nodded " I am more than sure, I want her to have the middle name as one of the strongest women I have ever known and someone I am more than happy to say is my best friend. " she said proudly, then it was Josie's turn to cry.

4 years later

Josie came home from babysitting Morgan, she found a candle lit dinner she smiled as she looked over at Steve she tilted her head " what is all this?" she asked him as she sat down her bag. Steve looked at her "well, Pepper and I were talking about how Tony had made her dinner that night that we baby sat Morgan over night. And I decided it was something I wanted to do for you." he told her. Josie smiled at him she walked over and kissed him, Steve reached up and threaded his fingers in her hair as he returned her kiss with just as much passion as she was giving him. Then they took off, Josie reached down and grabbed the hem of Steve's shirt and pulled it over his head, Steve wrapped his arms back around her and slid his hand up the back of her shirt.

(LEMONS)

They made their way up to the bedroom, clothes were scattered through the house, and Josie laid on the bed in just her bra and panties, Steve crawled over top of her and kissed her quickly, then slowly he started to make his way down her neck, his hand slid down and teased her nipple through her bra causing her to arch her back and moan softly. Reaching his hand back he unfastened her bra and threw it to the side before he went down and placed a soft kiss over her nipple, the sound that came from her mouth was almost a purr causing Steve's cock to stand at attention against her thigh, Josie wiggled her hips causing him groan against her skin. One he was done with her nipple he moves over top the other one where he sucked and lavished it with attention, carefully he started to move down the center of her chest, placing kisses as he lifted his eye s and looked up at her.

The sight of her laid back and arching under his touch almost did him in as he started to kiss down her flat stomach, once he reached her panties he brought his hands up and hooked his fingers on the inside of them and slowly pulled them down her thighs. Josie arched her back up to help him, he placed a kiss on her abdomen he went do dip lower and Josie grabbed him by his hair and pulled his mouth back up to hers, she kissed him feircly before she brought her legs up and used her toes to slide down his boxers. As soon as they were off she felt him swell against her heat, she looked up at him and locked her eyes with his as she reached a hand down and stroked him softly. Steve nearly came undone, he looked at her and all she could see was a fire in his eyes she brought her other hand up and stroked his cheek " I'm ready when you are." she told him breathlessly.

Steve moved forward and pressed his length against her, slowly he eased his way in, his face buried in her neck breathing hard he finally thrust all the way in. Josie moved her hips against his and tilted his head up and kissed him again as she moved her hips against his she had never felt complete until this moment, Steve groaned and started to trust in and out of her, Josie on the other hand had other plans, she wrapped her legs around him and flipped them over so he was under her. Steve's eyes got wide as he let them roam over her body, it was then he noticed the colorful shooting starts that went up her right side. Josie moved forward and slid up before she started to slid up and down his shaft at a medium pace, Steve reached out and placed his hands on her hips, Josie felt the tight coil wrapping inside her and she started to ride even harder, Steve felt it as well.

Sitting up he wrapped his arms around her small waist and picked the pace up even more , Josie felt the coil snap as she exploded, bright colors flashing before her eyes, she felt Steve was not far behind her when he stiffened up, she could feel him pumping his seed deep into her.

(END LEMONS)

Josie laid down on top of Steve as she nuzzled into his chest and kissed over his heart, she looked up at him and smiled " I love you Steve Rogers." she told him softly. Steve smiled and reached his hand up and stroked her cheek, " Marry me." he said trying to catch his breath, Josie looked at him and blinked " Did you just... I... what?" she asked him finally. Steve gently laid her down on the bed and got up, going over to his night stand he started looking for something and Josie moved over to sit on the side of the bed, she blinked as she watched him. Once she was sitting on the edge of the bed, Steve found what he was looking for and she watched as he turned to her, completely nude and got down on one knee " I had this whole thing planned out, the Dinner and I was going to play some of your favorite music and dance then I was going to ask you, But well then this happened and I realized, it does not have to be perfect." he told her.

Josie looked into his eyes, silent and for a moment Steve thought he had massively messed up when he heard her voice waver " Ask me." she said. Steve looked at her "I have waited, for so long for you. When I woke up, I thought I had lost and.. and I thought I had lost my chance. Then I found you again, and the first time we kissed I knew I could not lose you ever again, because my life would mean nothing, My heart, My soul, they would never be complete. Josephine Grace Watson, I love you and I have waited for almost a century to ask you, Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" he asked her nervously as he opened the ring box. Josie felt the tears spring to her eyes as she looked down at the box. Inside of it sat the most beautiful ring she has ever seen. It was a White Gold band with a rectangle Emerald in the middle and 3 small diamonds on each side of the emerald.

Josie's stared at the ring then looked at Steve, " You remembered, You remembered that I loved Emeralds and that I hated gold I always preferred Silver." she said in a choked voice. She looked into his eyes and smiled as she nodded her head " Yes. Yes Steven Rogers, I will marry you!" she told him as a huge smile broke out over her face. Steve let out a breath he had no idea he had been holding and he watched as Josie held out her left hand for him, Steve's hands were shaking as he took the ring out of the box and he slid it onto her finger. Josie laughed as she wrapped her arms around him neck and Steve stood up and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her with all the love in the world.

A Couple days later Josie went over to Pepper and Tony's house, She stepped out of the car and was greeted with Morgan running into her arms happily " Aunt Josie!" she giggled, Josie smiled as she hugged the girl tightly " Mini Morgan! How are you today?" she asked. Morgan rambled on as she carried her to the house, Tony met her on the porch leaning against the banister. Josie smiled at him " as much as I love Tony I am here for your wife," she told him. Tony looked at her " You look different." he said as Josie put Morgan down " You're.. Holy shit he's making an honest woman out of you." he said. Josie smiled as she held out her hand and showed him the ring, she heard a squeal and a clap behind her and turned around to see Pepper bouncing happily " He finally asked!" she said.

Later that night after a night of Pepper 'Helping' with wedding plans, Josie pulled up to the compound, getting out she walked into the building and walked into Steve and Nat talking. Natasha was over the moon happy for them as she looked a the ring, then the discussion got serious, that was when an alarm went off, Nat looked a the monitor to see a man calling out to see if anyone was in there, Josie pointed at the monitor " Guys, That is Scott." she said as she bolted for the door. Once she opened it she smiled at him "Scott Lang you are a sight for sore eyes!" she told him as she walked up and wrapped him into a hug. Scott hugged her back before they headed back inside, Once Josie cooked something for Scott and Nat, Scott started talking about well time travel. They all sat and listened, but decided they were going to need some help, they all looked at Josie, if there was anyone that had everyone number it was her, Josie slouched in her chair " I think we should talk to Tony about this first," she told them.

Josie took out her phone and dialed Pepper " Hey peaches! Is your hubby near by? No? Well shit, we need to talk to him, Scott Lang found us and he might have an idea. Dinner? Oh, Oh god yes if you are making that we will be there. Alright we will see you tomorrow night. Give Morgan love and tickles for me. Night." she hung up her phone.

That night Steve and Josie stayed at the compound, laying in bed that night, Steve rolled over and slid his hand across her abdomen, smiling he wrapped his arm around her waist and smiled at her. Josie returned his smile and kissed him, " we will get all this sorted, but we need to have a back up plan. You have to realize that Tony is not going to like this idea for fear of losing Morgan if things go back to how they were." she told him. Steve nodded and lazily ran his thumb along her side " I agree, Do you have Bruce's numebr?" he asked her. Josie gave him a look almost as if he was insulting her ability to keep in touch with everyone and nodded " I do." she said in a yawn. Rolling over she nuzzled into his chest and that was how they slept that night, because they knew tomorrow was going to be a challenge.


	8. Chapter 8- Big Green and Arrows

Chapter 8-

Josie and gang piled in the car the next afternoon, driving to Tony's house they were met on the front porch with drinks. Josie went over and gave him a hug as she sat down on the porch swing. She listened as they talked and eventually she heard Tony start to fight back a bit, she looked at him "Tony, you are not the only one with something to lose, There has to be a way, if we can pull this off, to just bring the people back and not actually change any of the events that have taken place." she told him.

Getting up she paced around the porch, Finally she stopped and looked at him as she crossed her arms over her chest, " I love that girl, just as much as you and Pepp do. And I would protect her at any costs, but I believe there is a way that just for once we can have our cake and eat it too." she said to him, finally she took a breath " We are not saying you have to make a decision right this very second. What I am saying is you need to keep an open mind on this, do what you do best, and give us an answer." she told him. Tony nodded his head in agreement and started to look as through he was already thinking it over. Small feet could be heard running for them as Morgan came running out of house " Daddy, Mommy says that dinner is ready!" she laughed as she jumped into his arms.

As they all went to leave, everyone was saying their goodbyes to Pepper and Tony, everyone was out of the door when Tony placed his hand on Josie's arm, she turned and looked at him confused. As he stared back at her with his dark eyes she chewed the inside of her lip and he spoke " You know this whole thing is absolutely fucking insane right?" he asked her. Josie looked at him, her eyes locking with his " Tony, as insane as it might be, It might also be the only way...Just think about it." she told him quietly offering him a sweet smile. She went over and got in the passenger seat of the car, her eyes fixed on the front door of the house, Scott spoke first " so how do we think that went?" he asked as he leaned forward. Steve and Nat looked at each other before looking at Josie just took out her cell phone and dialed a number before she placed it against her ear. Steve started the car and before they knew it they heard Josie say " Hey Big Green, we need your help." she said

A week later, Josie walked into a local diner with Natasha, Steve and Scott in tow. Looking around she shrugged when she did not see Bruce and smiled at a waitress as she went over and say at one of the booth tables. The waitress came over and smiled at them, everyone ordered their drinks " Are we sure he is even going to come?" Scott asked Josie. Josie smiled at the waitress as she sat down her Unsweetened Iced Tea and thanked her before she looked over at Scott, " Because, Bruce Banner might be a lot of things, but he is not by any means stupid enough to tell me he is going to do something and then stand me up." she said. About 20 minutes later the door to the diner opened and Scott's jaw almost fell through the table to the floor, Josie looked at him worried and then turned around. Josie smiled and slid out of the booth and stood up " Big Green!" she said as she held out her arms.

Bruce let out a chuckle and walked over making sure not to hit any of the other tables, he came over and wrapped his arms around Josie carefully " Little Scary! I have missed you!" he said as she ruffled her hair a bit. Josie grunted and righted her hair after she sat back down and Bruce got himself a chair to sit down. The Waitress came over and took their orders, Josie and Bruce sat there and chatted catching up when he noticed the ring on her finger. Josie and Bruce were not sure which shocked everyone more, the Fact he was Big and Green and completely under control and having a normal conversation, or the fact they could chat so causally.

Natasha waved her hand and looked at Bruce and waved her hand up and down " when did THIS happen?" she asked. Bruce sat up and looked at them, then went into the science of how he managed to mix Bruce and Hulk to find a happy medium between the two. " I mean look at me, Here I am wearing clothes!" he said happily. Josie chuckled and shook her head as she ate some of her fries, Bruce looked at her curiously " So, tell me what did you call me here for?" he asked her. Josie blinked and looked at Bruce, she stopped eating she pointed a finger at Scott "He might have found a Redo Button." she told him. Bruce looked at Scott and tilted his head " I'm listening." Bruce said to Scott.

After a while, Bruce agreed to come stay back at the compound and test out the idea. However when Josie walked into the compound she noticed there was a message. Going over she hit the button and listened " Hey It's Rhodes, this message is for Nat. We found him, let me know when you are available and I will send you the Coordinates." Josie looked at the machine and walked out to the main room and walked up to Natasha and whispered the message in here ear, Nat looked at her her eyes wide and brimming with tears as she nodded and headed into the office.

Josie walked over and watched at Bruce walked around the Van that Scott had brought. She smiled lightly as she watched them carrying on and on, she sat down in one of the chairs and listened to them carefully. After about 20 minutes Scott looked over at her as she sat there with her knees pulled to her chest and her head resting on her knees " Aren't you bored listening to us?" he asked her. Josie honestly was dozing off lightly but shook her head " No, Not at all. It's kind of refreshing actually, I remember when I started staying with Tony and Pepper after the whole airport thing, I used to sit there and listen to Tony ramble on and on, its actually how I got started with my learning." she told them with a small yawn.

She watched as they started working with some machine, tilting her head she watched Bruce work carefully and Scott adjust the things. Nat came back in and went over to see if there was anything she could do to help, then Josie picked her head up and looked around when she noticed someone was missing " Where is Steve?" she asked. Nat pointed over her shoulder " he said he saw something in the backyard and went to check it out. " she responded. Josie nodded her head " Well I have not heard anything explode or other wise so I am guessing he is..." she trailed off when she heard someone call her name " Josie! Can you come here for a second?" Steve's voice called. Josie perked a brow as she placed her feet back on the ground and excused herself, going into the living area of the compound she walked into the room to see Steve's back " What's up?" she asked him. Steve turned around to face her with a towel in his arms, " I found this little lady stumbling her way through the grounds." he said as he offered out the towel to her " She can't be anymore that maybe a month old or a little older." he said.

Josie took the towel and pulled it open a bit only to be met face to face with a puppy, Josie squeaked and opened the towel more " Oh! Sweetie look at you, you are the most beautiful little girl, yes you are! And Pitbull too, Oh and look at that Fawn color that is why you're so tough," she cooed, the puppy started wiggling a tiny bit with excitement but shook at the same time. Josie brought the pup closer to her chest and looked inside her mouth at her teeth " I would say you are not far off, maybe 6 or 7 weeks, old enough where she will be alright without her mama. But she sure is skinny, so I have to wonder how long she has been away from mama." she said thoughtfully.

Steve watched her, not noticing the others coming into the area, Nat was caught off guard when Josie handed her the towel clad puppy and went into the kitchen to warm up some Milk. Nat looked down at the dog and her face softened a bit " is this what you were catching in the back?" Nat asked Steve, he nodded " yeah, and look at how happy she is, she has always been a very simple person to please." he said softly. Nat chuckled and smiled, she looked over at Josie.

Ever since the snap, Josie had been amazing, making sure to come over to the compound and check on Natasha, make sure she ate something other that Peanut Butter Sandwiches so on and so forth. She looked down at the puppy " so what are you going to name her?" Nat asked as went over to Josie who was making a make shift bottle from one she had left over from Morgan. Josie took the puppy from Nat and teased it with the nipple of the bottle, she tilted her head as she watched the puppy started to drink, she pursed her lips " well my other dogs were Tyrion and Jamie they were named after 2 brothers from Game of Thrones, and in the show they had a sister, she was a vicious bitch though. And you're not a vicious bitch are you sweetheart? You're no Cersei, you are more of an Arwen, or even an Arya" she cooed at the puppy before she looked at Nat smiling, " so I am going to watch her and see what her personality is like first." she nodded smiling.

Josie let the puppy down to wonder, making sure she kept taking her out to potty as she went about making dinner while everyone sat at the table discussing the possibilities of how this could work. Homemade Pizza one of her favorites to make, one of her least favorite things around it.. the smell of yeast. Wrinkling her nose through the dough part she got all 4 pizza's made and in the ovens. Josie noticed the puppy chasing around her socked foot, reaching down she took off her socks and tied them together at the toes and made a Tug of War toy for her.

Getting down on the floor she mocked how the puppy was moving playfully and started wiggling the sock around on the floor. Everyone chuckled when the puppy started growling at Josie and Josie playfully growled. After a while the pup had gotten sleepy, Josie had noticed this when the pup sat down and tilted her head at Josie, smiling she picked up the pup. She turned around and looked at the group and Nat cleared her throat " I am going to be gone for a couple days." she told them all. Everyone looked at her as if she was insane except for Josie, Josie gave her a small smile and nodded her head as she looked at her " You have a location on him?" she asked. Nat nodded her head

" James advised me not to go, said that there is a trail of bodies behind him." she said softly with tears in her eyes.

Josie frowned and looked down at the floor a bit, when they had been locked up, Josie had taken the time to get to know all of them. But Clint always stuck with her, how he spoke of his lovely wife and kids. She smiled at the memory as she looked up a Nat,  
" Do you want me to go with you, for protection incase he has gone completely off the rails?" she asked. Nat shook her head " he would never hurt me." she said softly.

Everyone went about doing their own thing and working on things, Steve looked down at his watch and then silently walked from the room and went outside. Josie scrunched up her brow and followed behind him, making sure to take she put the puppy on couch she walked outside and stood beside him. She saw a car pulling up to the compound, she knew that car and she took a step forward to meet Tony. She smiled at him softly " I see you have done some thinking." she said to him. " You KNEW I would bite." he told her. She gave him a knowing smirk " I might have had an inkling that your hands were itching for something to do." she told him. Tony got out and started talking to Steve as he went back and puled the shield out of his trunk " it was made for you." he told him.

Things started to fall into place, the idea was to go get Thor and gather the group back up. Over the next few days Josie found herself cleaning the compound and setting up guest rooms, grocery shopping and also working on making a few more ear pieces that would reach the places they needed to go. Scott was sitting outside the compound with his taco that she made for him, He looked up confused as the wind picked up and ship landed in the yard blowing all of his taco fillings all over. Nebula walked off the ship and Josie lifted a brow as Nebula walked by him. Josie tapped on the glass " Young lady! You are cleaning that up!" she told her through the glass as she pointed a finger at her.

Josie walked back into the work area and looked at Bruce and Rocket and handed them ear pieces " Okay. These should reach New Asgaurd no problem." she told them as she handed a special one over to rocket that would better fit his ear with a wide smile "I wish I could go with you but I told Nat I would be here when she goes to get Clint, thought I fear that both of them might be in rough shape mentally." she told them.

The two of them took off, Tony walked into the work area and looked at her " Do you ever stop being a mother hen?" he joked at her.

Josie turned her head and looked at him before she stepped over and grabbed a hold of his arm " I need your help with something." she said to him as she drug him into one of the medical rooms and closed the privacy screen, she looked at the floor, Tony shifted a bit " what's going on Jos?" he asked her quietly. Taking a breath she lifted her head " I need you to help me run a couple tests on me. I need.. I died Tony, I know I have a heartbeat but I don't know what else works, I never let your dad touch me in case I was some kind of alien or something because he would have had a field day, but I need to know what else works." she said to him as she rung her hands in front of her.

Tony tilted his head " You have been sitting on this for a while haven't you?" he asked as he slid his hands into his pockets. Josie nodded slowly " Ever since the night Morgan was born" she told him softly as she looked down at the floor. " I have always wanted kids but in my situation, it was not like I could just walk in anywhere and be like 'hey yeah I need a fertility test. Oh has there been trauma? , well now that you mention it I died once' Tony, if we manage this, if this mission is a success, I want to be able to start my life that should have happened back in 1941. Steve and I are waiting til all this is over to get married, then I would like to start a family. " she said in a soft voice as tears sprang to her eyes.

Tony took a deep breath and nodded his head as he reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his chest quickly " that is a long time to be sitting on this kiddo. But yeah I can run the tests, Tomorrow morning." he told her. Josie nodded and wiped her eyes, they made their way out of the medical room to go their separate ways, Tony to continue his work with the others, and Josie to go and make dinner and relax. She went into the kitchen and was met with the face of her new fur baby. She had been watching the dog who had a very good and peaceful nature much like herself. Josie smiled " Serenity and we will call you Ren." she said with a nod. The puppy looked up at her and wiggled happily.

4 AM the next morning

Jose was asleep with her phone on the nightstand next to her when she heard it vibrate. Peeling one of her eyes opened she glared over at it and reached out a hand and grabbed the phone silently. She tried to move when she realized that Steve had his arm locked tightly around her waist and stayed still. She opened the text and looked at it, 

Meet me in the medical bay bring your best bra and panties. - Tony

Josie perked up an eyebrow and resisted the urge to grunt so she didn't wake Steve. She answered quickly

I fucking hate everything about you right now-J

You couldn't tell me that in person when you get down here?- Tony

Oh don't you worry I'll tell you in person too.- J

Reaching down she very gently grabbed Steve's wrist and carefully picked up his arm and moved it from around her waist. She knew he was tired and the chances of him waking up were small. She slid out of the bed and slipped on a robe over her shorts and tank top and silently and with light feet made her way down to the medical bay.

Slipping in there she looked at Tony as he sat at the desk, then slowly he turned around in his chair and looked at her silently with a smirk on his face " I figured you did not want the boy scout to know about this or anyone for that matter but I did ask Bruce if he would help, he will be here in a minute or two and well he might know more about this than I do." he told her.

Josie crossed her arms across her chest and took a deep breath " I still hate you right now." she told him. Tony chuckled as the door opened and Bruce walked through and closed the door an the Privacy screen behind him as he offered Josie a small smile,

" You might hate me when this is all done too." he told her seriously

2 Hours of poking and prodding with needles and fingers, her stomach and arms and a couple needles to the stomach. She watched as Bruce ran the tests on a machine in front of her, her eyes roaming over the numbers and results in front of her that she had no idea the meaning behind. Tony went upstairs and made coffee and was generous enough to bring her some down.

Finally the machine dinged and Bruce started looking over the results, once and a while she would see his eyes move over to hers but what made it so unnerving was the fact that his face stayed completely neutral. Sitting there sipping her coffee she finally grunted " would someone fucking say something? Like seriously has all this Hocus Pocus bullshit robbed me of my damn chance at a life or do I have a fucking chance?!" she snapped at bit at the end as she sat down her coffee cup.

Bruce took his eyes off the screen and looked at her as he took off his glasses " I see why you came to us, but I can tell you right now there is good news and there is bad news. But first let me ask, why didn't you see someone, even Tony about this sooner?" he asked her. Josie took a deep breath and folded her hands in her lap, a knot forming in her stomach of the aspect of bad news however Josie smiled at him and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees "Bruce, my future literally is in the palm of your gigantic beefy green hands, give me the bad news first" she told him as she locked her eyes with his. Bruce looked at her and took a deep breath and looked at her, she could tell my the look on his normally happy green face that he was swallowing a lump in his chest and throat. Josie stared at him and finally he got up and turned the screen towards her as he started to point.

" I can't just give the bad news without mixing the two together, so here goes. All of your levels are fine. Everything is functioning the way it should be so whatever it was that happened to you, did not effect the body's way of working. However I know you have not been outside much and that is what is making your B-12 appear to be low and I am guess that is because you have not had much of a chance to absorb natures natural energy." he said as he looked between her and Tony and the screen. Josie nodded and motioned for him to continue and he did " however the bad news is some of the places where you were stabbed still have scar tissue, that being said.. one of the places that has scar tissue on it is your right Ovary and Fallopian tube, which knocks down the chances of that tube successfully dropping down an Egg." he tells her.

Josie sat back and took a breath as she looked at the ceiling then back at Bruce, she had done labor and delivery for a long time and part of that was knowing how the female reproductive system works. While she sat there chewing the inside of her lip Tony heard someone almost silently slide open the door behind them and he turned to look and see Steve standing there, his eyes got wide almost like a kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, while Steve held up a finger to his lips to indicate that Tony be quiet. Tony nodded and looked back over at Josie, she was still chewing her lip and looking at the screen. 

Josie composed herself she pointed at the screen " Ok so that is on the right, what about the left?" she asked him. " because if the left one is still dropping eggs the way it should be then there is still a 50/50 chance just like there is with anyone else who is trying to start a family correct?" she asked finished. Bruce had noticed Steve and looked back at Josie " Yes, there is still a chance after all that the right one could just have superficial scaring however, when it comes to stabbing that is usually not the case. I would say at the very worst it might take a bit longer for you and Steve to conceive. Which brings me to my other point." he said as he sat down and looked at her seriously. " If or when you manage to conceive, you are going to need to recharge more than usual, but you are also going to be high risk and require almost constant supervision to make sure all of your levels are up and all that. Do let me ask you. Are you sure this is what you want when the time comes, there are other options Josie. " he told her.

Josie took a deep breath and folded her hands in her lap, a knot forming in her stomach at the challenges of the complications she could face, but she knew they would face them together, she cleared her throat and looked up at Bruce while Steve listened intently to her answer. Finally she spoke "Growing up when I did there were certain pressures, things that were expected of a daughter from her parents. Mine urged me to marry and marry well, mother children, they even went as far as to bring a few gentleman over that they thought would be a good match for me." she said as she looked down at her hands as she remembered, her fingers interlacing together she started to rub her thumbs together.

" However, those gentleman, were far from actual gentleman, they were either full of themselves, or flashy, or cared more about appearance than actual love. Most of them looked at me as though I were a piece of arm candy that they could flash about to show that they had the best. But I never wanted that life, I wanted to work I wanted to help people and none of them would have let me." she explained as she looked up at the two men who were sitting on the edge of their seat hanging on every word she said.

She took a deep breath " but more importantly, none of them were Steve." she told them. " Steve and I were always close. He was always so sweet and caring, encouraged me to go for my dreams even if they felt as though they were out of my reach, that no matter what I could accomplish them. Even as a teenager, he had my heart in his hand and he did not even know it" she said as she sat back in the chair as she smiled lightly and looked up at the ceiling.

" I never sought Howard out to help me with this because, when Steve's letters stopped and I died on the inside. Part of me assumed the worst, that he was dead, and then I was killed. Then.. then I received word through the grape vine that Bucky was dead, I knew if he was gone that I was correct in assuming that Steve was gone as well, I mean he was not exactly the biggest guy back then, and with his Asthma...but he had so much heart and soul" she trailed off as she shook her head and focused on them again. "Then my phone rang, and as soon as I heard his voice, I thought I had finally died and gone to heaven, that I had finally done something right and was being given the peace that I deserved. But that did not even begin to measure up to when I first laid eyes on him again, all of my hope and all of my love and my dreams, all of the things that had laid dormant and died with him so long ago, came roaring back to life with a single look into those damn blue eyes, that is when I actually started to think about this, but when Pepper had Mini M, well that is when I knew I had to see if it were all possible." she finished as she looked at them.

Steve stood there listening to her, when he had woke up she was not there, at first he thought she might be outside, but when he went to the kitchen and noticed Serenity sleeping on the floor he had asked Vision, he had told him that she was down in the medical bay with Bruce and Tony. The fact that she was going through all this so they could have the life they had always hoped for together, it made him see her in a whole new light. Before he knew he loved her, he knew he needed her in his life, but now.. he knew that she was his life. There without her there was no future for him. His face softened as she continued to speak to speak about when the letters stopped and he realized he never really thought about how it had been for her when they stopped.

An alarm went off and they all looked over at the screen and Steve spoke up "Nat is back." he said. Josie's eyes widened as she slowly turned in her seat and looked at him, his eyes locked with hers as she blinked slowly " How long have you been standing there?" she asked him in a small voice. Steve offered her a sheepish grin " we will talk about that later, I have a feeling there are two are going to look for one certain face." he tells her quietly as he goes over and places a hand gently on her arm and places a soft kiss to her forehead. Josie smiles and looks up at him and nods in agreement, reaches down she interlaces their fingers she heads up to get dressed then they strolled to where the jet is landing.

Natasha came off the jet first, she looked around and nodded her head to everyone as she walked down the ramp, " Where is he?" asked Rhodes asked her. Nat sighed and looked back at the jet, " He does not want to come out while everyone is out here. He will come out when he is ready." she said as she headed towards the compound. As she walked by Josie reached her free hand out and brushed Nat's softly offering her a smile. Nat returned it and kept going. Slowly everyone started to make their way back, Steve looked down at Josie who stood there waiting patiently with her hand in his, she looked up at him and smile " why don't you go Nat is alright? I am going to go in there and Legolas out of there." she said as she jerked her head towards the jet.

Steve looked at them jet then back at Josie nodding " alright but um, later we need to have that talk." he told her seriously, Josie looked down at the ground then looked back up at him " alright." she said as she reached up and placed her hands on each one of his cheeks and pulled him down for a soft kiss. Steve returned the kiss and headed towads the compound with a smile on his face. Josie turned and started to slowly walk up the ramp of the jet. Once inside she looked around and spotted a figure sitting there with his head in his hands, taking a deep breath she slowly started to slowly walk over to him.

Clint kept his eyes fixed on the floor he took a shuttering breath " You sure you want to be near a murderer?" he asked. A sad look come over Josie's face as she moved to sit on the bench across from him the clasped her hands together and rested them in her lap, to her she was not looking at the Clint Barton she knew, she was looking at a man who had lost everything for nothing. A man who felt he had nothing left to lose and to see him like this made her heart weep as Clint placed his elbows on his knees and folded his hands in front of him he kept his eyes firmly on the ground.

Reaching her hand out she placed the tip of her pointer finger under his chin and tilted his head up til his eyes looked into hers. Josie tilted her head " Clint Barton, you listen to me and you listen well, You are not a murderer, and you are not a monster. You are a man who lost everything, and I know in that brain of yours you are beating yourself up saying you should have protected your family, but Clint, I was watching that battle, helping where I could. I can tell you right now that not even a god could stop Thanos, nobody was safe it was not matter of how it was a matter of when and now all we can do it try go back and fix it." she told him in a soothing voice.

Before she knew what she doing her hands reached out and took Clint's hands in her smaller ones as she looked at him. She could see the bobbing in his throat as he tried to swallow a sob, but it was short lived as she sat there and held his hands. A loud sob tore from his throat and before she knew it Clint was on his knees in front of her, his hands had torn from hers and wrapped themselves around her waist. Josie blinked as she looked down at him, one of her arms wrapped around his shoulders and the other came to rest on the back of his head. She quietly shushed him as she rocked him back and forth comfortingly.

After a few minutes, he had calmed down the intensity of his sobs and hiccuped lightly before he spoke " I was not worried about Nat seeing me like this, or any of the others. I was worried about what you would think. Ever since I met you, you have had this warmth that I always felt like I was missing growing up, a mothers warmth." he sobbed out again as she sat there clutching him to her chest and stroking his hair, " Honey, why were you worried about what I would think?" she asked him softly. Clint shook his head " I was afraid that the warmth I have always seen there would be replaced with disappointment, and you would be repulsed by me." he confessed in a quiet voice.

Josie sighed as she reached down and used her pointer finger to tilt his head up to look at her, she offered him a small smile as she shook her head "Not a chance. What I see is one of my babies with a broken heart. And part of me wants to wrap you in a blanket and hide you away until the universe knows how to treat you properly." she told him in a soft tone. Her heart absolutely went out to him when she heard his confession about seeing her as a motherly figure. She had read his file and knew that he had been orphaned at a young age and grew up in the system. Given everything he had been though she was not surprised. She kept the smile on her face as she leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead, and as she pulled her head back she brought her hand up and patted his cheek

" Now stand up and let me take a good look at you, alright?" she asked him.

Clint nodded and slowly rose to his feet standing there in front of her he kept his eyes firmly on the ground again. Josie stood up and walked around him looking him over "You are too skinny, You look absolutely exhausted." she started her examination as she looked him over " and what is this young man?" she said in a joking motherly tone "Young man did you ask me if you could get Tattoos and a Mohawk? Well see now I am disappointed, the fact you would go to a tattoo studio without me, I am hurt. You just wait til your father gets home." she told him with a wink. Clint let out a small bark of a laugh as he picked his head up and looked at her. Josie walked over and took one of his hands into hers " Come on now, we have been out here for a while and you need a shower and something to eat." she told him as she started to lead him from the jet.

Once they got inside Josie told Clint that his usual room was still stocked out and he still had clothes in there and he headed off to take a shower, making sure to hide his face from the others. Josie watched him walk towards his room and heard someone walk up behind her, carefully she turned around and came face to face with the widow herself. Nat looked worried " is he going to be alright?" she asked. Josie took a deep breath and nodded her head " Yes, my dear he is going to be alright. But he is going to need a good shower, a home cooked meal and rest." Josie told her in a matter of fact tone. Nat nodded her head " heads up, Steve has flat out told everyone including Rocket that you are off limits tonight. That he has plans for you." she said smirking.

Josie's eyes got wide as she looked over at the Femme Fatale who was standing there smirking. Josie jerked her head towards the kitchen indicating that Nat should follow her. The two women walked towards the kitchen, Nat placed herself on the counter while Josie started getting out left overs from dinner " I went to Bruce and Tony for testing this morning,I had never let anyone touch me after I woke up and I wanted to know that if all of this works that Steve and I can start the life we should have had back then. I wanted to make sure EVERYTHING worked" she said softly motioning to her abdomen.

The Assassin's eyes followed her hand and became wide with she finally caught on she sputtered a little " Oh.. I didn't see that one coming, so what did they say?" she asked. Josie sighed as she placed the plate in the Microwave and turned it on, she leaned against the counter " there is some scaring on the one side, that I have just as much chance as everyone else. Its 50/50. but if I do I would be extremely high risk and need constant supervision." she told her. Nat nodded her head " and is that a risk you are willing to take?" she asked the older woman. Josie chewed on her lip as she looked at her friend "I would give my own life if it meant bringing a product of our love into this world." she told her in a serious voice.

A/N HAPPY THANKSGIVING to All my American readers! The next chapter will be up a bit sooner!


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